NEW DELHI: After the recent Ahmedabad session, the Congress party is once again facing a growing divide similar to the 2009–2010 phase—where a rift between young and experienced leaders had weakened the party. A campaign seems to be underway to sideline senior and experienced leaders, with claims that their time is over and they should retire. This includes former Chief Ministers and close associates of Sonia Gandhi. Even leaders like Ajay Maken and Kumari Selja are being tagged in this wave.
At the Ahmedabad session, younger leaders were given more speaking opportunities, which triggered this youth-versus-veteran narrative. State-level campaigns have started, highlighting internal groupism. Key Hindi belt states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, and Himachal are being affected, and even Congress-ruled states like Himachal and Karnataka are not immune.
Ironically, those being projected as the “future” of the party are often leaders who came from other parties or never played a crucial role in Congress victories. Some have even been involved in toppling Congress governments, yet are now being promoted as future faces. This has led to resentment among the party’s older core.
This division is reappearing at a time when the party is already under pressure due to ED cases. Party President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi are trying to keep the party together, but some leaders claiming to be close to Rahul are reviving the same youth-versus-senior campaign that hurt the party in 2014.
Back then, internal conflicts between experienced and young leaders led to electoral losses. In Madhya Pradesh, the fight between Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia ended with Scindia leaving for the BJP, bringing down the Congress government. Similar events happened in Rajasthan (Gehlot vs. Pilot) and Chhattisgarh (Baghel vs. T.S. Singh Deo). Karnataka is now facing tension between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar.
Haryana is also divided—ex-CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda is at odds with leaders like Selja and Randeep Surjewala. The party has yet to choose a legislative leader even six months after the elections.
This ongoing youth-versus-veteran conflict has cost the party several states and weakened it ahead of key elections. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, internal disagreements over campaign strategy and issues like Rafale were clearly visible. After that defeat, many young leaders who once stood close to Rahul Gandhi gradually quit the party. Scindia joined BJP, while others like Jitin Prasada, RPN Singh, Sushmita Dev, and Milind Deora followed.
Now, similar signs are emerging in 2025. The new generation of leaders being pushed lacks mass support or significant achievements. Leaders like Kanhaiya Kumar, Gaurav Gogoi, Sachin Pilot, and Imran Pratapgarhi are being promoted despite criticism and weak grassroots support. In Uttar Pradesh, under leaders like Ajay Kumar Lallu, the party’s vote share fell to just 3%.
Even loyal and experienced leaders like K.C. Venugopal, Jitendra Singh, Harish Chaudhary, Pratap Singh Bajwa, Jairam Ramesh, and Rajeev Shukla are being tagged as “retired.” Core veterans such as P. Chidambaram, Ashok Gehlot, Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh, Ambika Soni, and others are facing similar sidelining. Supporters of this campaign even cite Kharge’s statement that those who are not ready to take responsibility should step aside. But Congress today lacks strong young faces with a real connection to the people. The party cannot afford to sideline its experienced leaders at a time when unity and leadership are needed the most.
If not handled now, this internal division will continue to damage the Congress—giving further advantage to the BJP, just as seen recently in Haryana and Maharashtra.