Mind the Generation Gap
Nowhere is the Generation Gap more prominent than in the Congress today. WIth Sonia Gandhi firmly back in the saddle so is the old brigade, which had been sidelined during Rahul’s regime. The most obvious name here is of course that of Ahmed Patel. And one of the first moves made by Patel—other than to ensure a smooth takeover for Sonia—was to stop his old friend and former Haryana CM Bhupender Hooda from leaving the party. Hooda had made it clear that he wanted to be the party’s CM face in the next elections and moreover did not want to work under Ashok Tanwar as the PCC chief. And so Tanwar has been replaced by a Sonia loyalist Kumari Selja while Hooda has been made the CLP leader. In fact, this announcement was timed right about the time that Hooda was holding a rally in Rohtak to announce his exit. Interestingly, apart from Patel, others who are part of the power troika are Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Gehlot and A.K. Antony. (And for some inexplicable reason Jairam Ramesh retains his relevance in this new/old set up as well). Which brings us to the Gen Next, especially Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora and Jitin Prasada, who find themselves at odds with a Congress, which is fast becoming irrelevant, and a BJP, which has no space for their pedigreed politics.
The Curious Case of Neeraj Shekhar
Why did Chandrashekhar’s son Neeraj quit the Samajwadi Party recently and join the BJP? It’s true that he has been given a warm welcome in the BJP in form of a Rajya Sabha seat, but why did he have to leave the SP in the first place? Neeraj, if you recall, was given a Lok Sabha ticket by Mulayam Singh Yadav after his father’s death and won the 2007 bypoll and the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Ballia on an SP ticket. However, he lost in 2014 and since then the SP also underwent a regime change, with Akhilesh taking over from Mulayam. And though Neeraj was given a Rajya Sabha berth, he was keen to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha. However, instead of giving the ticket to him, or to a candidate of his choice, Akhilesh gave it to a third person. This did not go down well with Neeraj, who saw the move for what it was. The BJP for its part was only too happy to welcome Chandrashekhar’s son.
Sending the right optics?
Did the Congress send the right optics when it rolled out its big guns to defend P. Chidambaram in court? The former Home Minister was represented by Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Salman Khurshid. This led a party worker from Andhra to mutter disparagingly, when it came to Narasimha Rao, a former PM, he was left to his own devices and he used to go alone to court for his hearings. But when it comes to a family loyalist the party rolls out the red carpet.
Priyanka takes stock
While there is some confusion as to Rahul Gandhi’s role in the Congress, there is no ambiguity regarding Priyanka. Once she decided to take the plunge she has made it clear that she is here to stay. Not only did she not resign after the Lok Sabha defeat but instead she has stepped up her efforts in UP. Sources say that she plans to spend half the week in Lucknow, meeting party workers and the other half in Delhi. In fact her message to them is simple: for she is telling them to first get ready to be a viable opposition before they can get to be in government. Given the fact that both Mayawati and Akhilesh have yet to get their act together post the Lok Sabha poll, Priyanka is at least sending the right optics. However, the main question remains: will she be a consistent presence on the ground or will she follow her brother’s model of haphazard leadership?