Game on in Congress

The Congress shall, thankfully, have a new elected president in less than 40 days. However, speculation remains whether the Gandhis would be contesting the organisational polls, or shall allow someone from amongst the senior leaders to take up the position.
There is no ambiguity in the minds of Congress activists, that the next president would have to have the support of the Gandhis, directly or indirectly, if he or she has to succeed. Therefore, if Rahul remains reluctant to accept the responsibility, the grand old party would have someone who enjoys the confidence of the family.
The supreme irony is that the Congress has hit rock bottom because of the Gandhis and their close advisers, but at the same time, there is no way the party can survive for long if they are taken away from the centre stage of politics.
While members of the erstwhile G-23 group of dissidents are trying to raise questions about the transparency of the poll process, yet it is very evident that if any of them jumps into the fray, it shall be only to offer a token fight.
In Congress, things never happen by planning, but everything falls in place by default. The problem which the party faces is that behind the show of unity, which is put up for public consumption, the Gandhis are themselves divided and represent three power centres. Rahul has said no a multiple times to the position but he would be very uncomfortable if Priyanka was to be proposed as a candidate by her coterie. Undoubtedly, she is considered to be the most charismatic person in the family, something which does not sit well with Rahul.
Rahul has been most erratic in his planning and thinking and his lack of consistency has always given him negative publicity. For reasons best known to him, he refuses to learn and continues to falter as he is not a 24X7 politician like Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It is a well-known fact that it suits both PM Modi and the BJP to have Rahul as the main adversary from amongst opposition parties, since the saffron brigade and the Congress are pitted against each other in a direct contest in more than 200 seats. Thus, in this kind of a scenario, the BJP begins with the advantage of capturing most of these seats. Sonia Gandhi, who has technically been the longest serving Congress president ever, also has to ensure that if she ceases to be the head of the party, the baton should pass to someone whom she trusts.
There are multiple proposals which are being discussed in the top party circles. The first is that Sonia should remain the president if Rahul disagrees to accept the responsibility and to assist her, she should have four or five working presidents, each in charge of one region.
There is also a proposal to have either Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, who has considerable organisational experience since his NSUI days, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Kamal Nath, considered to be the most effective micro-management person in Congress, or former Haryana Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a mass leader, as possible presidents till 2024 elections.
Sources in the Congress said that the Gandhis have been rattled by the departure of Ghulam Nabi Azad and have been constantly ringing up senior people asking them to speak on their behalf. This nervousness is on account of the collateral damage which has been inflicted by Azad’s resignation.
Prior to this, there was this talk, hopefully not in a lighter and trivial vein, that Rahul was wanting to make Sachin Rao, one of his aides as the stop-gap president. Ajay Maken and K.C. Venugopal were also amongst his preferred list of people. If this is true, it really reflects on how casually the leadership question is being viewed by Rahul.
In some quarters, there has been speculation that Ambika Soni, who was asked by Sonia Gandhi to unfurl the National Flag at the AICC office on Independence Day celebrations, could be a front runner. Sonia was unable to attend the function as she was suffering from Covid. Ambika has publicly announced that she has quit active politics after being ideologically aligned to the values of the Congress for over 52 years.
The name of former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Home Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde is also being mentioned in Congress circles as a possible presidential nominee. Shinde is a Dalit and close to the Gandhis. He is also well regarded by leaders of other opposition groups and could be thus in the reckoning.
The main question which arises is that no person or leader of the Congress can resuscitate the party till he or she gets a free and fair hand. In the past 24 years, the Congress organisation has been totally decimated because of various factors. The Congress leadership has to realise that when it takes on Narendra Modi, it also faces the might of the BJP organisation.
Thus, an organisationally weak Congress can be no match for the Prime Minister or the BJP. There is another dimension to the entire issue. In order to retain the leadership of a proposed federal front in the 2024 elections, the Congress must have an acceptable leader at the helm of affairs.
Failure to put up a credible face would lead to the Congress losing its primary status of the main opposition party. The question is complex since the Gandhis are not acceptable beyond the Congress. Between us.