Congress’ loss in Haryana was of a crucial Rajya Sabha seat, one that was to have gone to Ajay Maken, a key aide of Rahul Gandhi.
New Delhi: The one loss in the recent Rajya Sabha elections has robbed the Congress High Command of any pleasure it may have got with the other wins. The loss in Haryana was not just a Rajya Sabha seat slipping out of the party’s grasp, this was a crucial seat, one that was to have gone to a key aide of Rahul Gandhi. It was Rahul Gandhi who had finalised his favourite Ajay Maken’s name for the Haryana Rajya Sabha (overruling objections for the state stalwart Bhupinder Singh Hooda). In the scheme of things, Maken plays a key role in Rahul Gandhi’s Congress; along with Randeep Surjewala and K.C. Venugopal, he is a trusted aide with some even seeing him as a future Ahmed Patel like figure. Well, that last bit came to naught because Ahmed Patel would not have faltered in Haryana. But Maken and Hooda did, and therein lies a story about all that is wrong with the Congress. Promoting favourites and nepotism is all very well when the “High Command” is strong as is the case with Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Or even during Indira Gandhi’s time. But at a time when the Gandhis are at their weakest, would it not have been wiser to come up with a more inclusive list? Why was Ajay Maken—who spent most of his political career trying to destabilize Sheila Dikshit—not asked to contest the Rajinder Nagar bypolls (the MLA seat was left vacant after AAP’s Raghav Chaddha went to Rajya Sabha)? He has been a minister in the Dikshit government and the Delhi Congress needs a face to head it. Maken could have stepped in.
This is not just Maken’s loss for even Bhupinder Singh Hooda has lost face. Part of the G 23, Hooda was wooed by the Gandhis and given charge of his home state Haryana. This move made sense for if any Congress leader can craft a comeback it is this former chief minister. Hooda was also given a free hand in the state with his nominee Uday Bhan as PCC Chief, while Hooda was the CLP leader, and all his detractors (including Kuldeep Bishnoi, Kumari Selja and Randeep Surjewala) were asked to pipe down. While Surjewala was sent off to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan, Bishnoi was not even given the courtesy of a meeting with Rahul Gandhi. (Bishnoi had the last word when he voted against the Congress candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls). Having been given a free hand, it was on Hooda to deliver a win for the Congress candidate. In that limited sense, this loss is more Hooda’s than Maken’s; for the latter will remain a key advisor to Rahul Gandhi and his place in Team RaGa remains untouched. It is Hooda who will have some explaining to do and work at winning back the party High Command’s trust again.
There is some silver lining for the Congress in Rajasthan where sitting Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot managed a win for all three of the Congress candidates. In Rajasthan it will be the BJP leader, Vasundhara Raje who may have to explain why one of her MLAs voted for the Congress. But all in all, for the BJP, the Rajya Sabha balance sheet looks good. Apart from its own candidates it also managed to bring in three extra “supported” candidates from Haryana, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Given the fact that the Congress is headed for an inner party “election” soon which could see the elevation of Rahul Gandhi as the party chief, it is high time that he gets his act together. First part of this process would be to bring in a more inclusive leadership instead of promoting only his darbaris. That should be the first lesson from the Haryana Flop Show for it was not so much the BJP that won the Haryana Rajya Sabha but the Congress that lost a sure seat. A more inclusive Rajya Sabha list would have gone a long way in building party morale and uniting various factions to vote on the same page.
We are told that Rahul has always complained that the party does not support him on the issues that he raises, especially when he attacks the RSS. This is one reason why he wanted to promote Surjewala and Maken to the Rajya Sabha as he was hoping that along with K.V. Venugopal, they would raise the same issues in the Upper House that he raises in the Lower House. Maybe now Rahul needs to change his strategy; and instead of pressurising Congress leaders to raise the issues he wants to raise, he could take their advice and raise issues that the rest of the party wants to highlight. The key word here being “inclusive” again.
Unlike the BJP which still has some more goodies to hand out in terms of seven Presidential nominations to the Rajya Sabha, not to mention the post of President and Vice President which fall into the NDA’s kitty, the Congress has very little inducements to offer its leaders and cadre. Since it doesn’t have any positions and Rajya Sabha berths left, what would help to keep the party together is a more accessible leadership.
According to Congress sources, one of the reasons why Kuldeep Bishnoi voted against the party candidate, was that he had asked for a meeting with Rahul Gandhi a fortnight before the voting. When this did not materialise, he took to posting cryptic tweets on his social media page, and yet these warning signs were ignored. How many more leaders can the Congress afford to lose? It’s all very well to say “those who want to leave, should leave” as Rahul Gandhi did during the last round of Assembly elections. This line of thought doesn’t work that well when you don’t have any leaders or cadre to replace those who have left. Which brings us to the most pressing problem in Rahul’s in-tray at the moment—apart from the ED summons against him, what will he do about Sachin Pilot? Given Gehlot’s performance in the Rajya Sabha polls, it would be difficult to replace him with Pilot at this juncture. But Pilot is in no mood to be placated, he has waited long enough. He is also the only credible GenNext leader who is still standing with the Gandhis.
June has always been a hot month in the capital, but this year the political heat is particularly sweltering at 24 Akbar Road.