New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi is an angry young man these days. The former Congress boss gets angry at the drop of a hat these days. His anger is justified too. His own people are exasperating him by way of one conduct or the other. It was in 2013 when the entire country witnessed the Gandhi scion seething with anger and venting it on the then UPA government publicly. He had then ripped up the ordinance cleared by the Manmohan Singh Cabinet to “save convicted lawmakers”.
Rahul Gandhi is angry again. He has expressed his anger to the extent of aggressive outburst in the party meetings on several occasions. His own party leaders are making him exasperated these days. It was none else than insiders who made the Congress government fall in Madhya Pradesh. Again, Congress insiders were behind destabilising the government in Rajasthan. Rahul Gandhi has now run out of patience when his own people are targeting him. How can Rahul Gandhi be a mute spectator to old guards meeting Sonia Gandhi with their grievances? Some of them are even writing to the Congress interim chief targeting Rahul Gandhi for one reason or the other. All this is not going down well with the ex-boss of the party. What Rahul Gandhi takes note of is that most of these leaders are the ones who enjoyed power and held plum ministerial posts during 10 years of the UPA government. What happened then? Didn’t they have any problem with Rahul Gandhi then? What hurts Rahul Gandhi more is that some youngsters, who he relied on, are finding fault with him. Even, some of them have deserted the party regardless of Rahul Gandhi’s reliance on them. Some still continue to be in the Congress, joining the chorus with oldies against Rahul Gandhi at times.
The in-house tension and turf war are reasons enough for Rahul Gandhi to be unhappy and disappointed. In the last fortnight, Rahul Gandhi has been targeted in CWC meeting and in a parley of Rajya Sabha members convened by Sonia Gandhi. By expressing his displeasure over such behaviour of oldies, Rahul Gandhi has given a strong message as well. Now, he is sure that there cannot be repetition of these episodes in the next meeting after the terse message has been given. The Congress Working Committee meeting will be held on 24 August. The meeting of the top decision-making body of the Congress will be keenly watched from that point of view. In fact, Rahul Gandhi is unable to take tough decisions due to his mother Sonia Gandhi’s intervention. As a result, certain decisions are taken in the Congress which don’t have Rahul Gandhi’s stamp of approval.
Apart from veterans whose conduct has been a cause of irritation for the Gandhi scion, youngsters like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot, too, have added to Rahul Gandhi’s headache. Scindia ruined the Kamal Nath government in MP, Sachin Pilot pushed the Ashok Gehlot government to the verge of collapse. However, Gehlot managed to save his government. But all that annoyed Rahul Gandhi too much. Veterans without mass base targeting Rahul Gandhi is something that led to the ex-party chief’s outbursts. Former finance minister P. Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewary, Shashi Tharoor, Milind Deora, Jatin Prasad and R.P.N. Singh are some of the leaders who Rahul Gandhi is said to be unhappy with. The Congress MP is getting along well with Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, Amarinder Singh and Narayanasamy. He trusts Kamal Nath in MP. Former MP chief minister Digvivjay Singh is trying to be in Rahul Gandhi’s good book, but his tricks don’t seem to be working for now. Rahul Gandhi is said to have no problem with Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjuna Kharge, AK Antony, Motilal Vora and Mukul Wasnik. The new CWC will have the imprint of Rahul Gandhi and his anger will get reflected in its composition. Will many of old guards be then dropped? This question is being raised in Congress circles. But only Rahul Gandhi will be able to answer this question and perhaps he will answer at the right time. Another reason why Rahul Gandhi is unhappy with leaders is that most of them do not join him in assailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Randeep Singh Surjewala did what Rahul Gandhi wanted by showing no mercy in attacking the PM. However, Surjewala could not be picked for general secretary post. Ajay Maken stole the march over him for reasons Rahul Gandhi may not like. Maken had gone abroad when he was supposed to fight elections here. He used to be at loggerheads with then chief minister and later Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit. But still, he was picked for a key role in the Congress. Be that as it may, the fact is that Rahul Gandhi is angry with lots of old guards and some of youngsters.