The Purposeful Mistake
Will Jyotiraditya Scindia get his ministerial berth anytime soon? According to BJP sources, he will have to first prove himself in the state byelections for the 22 rebel MLAs that joined the Congress along with him. The elections to these have to be held before 23 September. Sources also indicate that in all probability Scindia may not get a Cabinet berth but a Minister of State with Independent Charge, which is a post he has held earlier in the Congress as well. But those watching this space missed a very interesting development during the Rajya Sabha polls that took place in June recently. This saw cross-voting from the BJP camp for Congress nominee Digvijaya Singh. Only, and this is interesting, the MLA who voted for Digvijaya was Gopilal Jatav, who comes from Scindia’s own stronghold Guna from where he is the MLA. For the record, Jatav has said that he is a loyal BJP worker and he voted for Digvijaya by “mistake”. But given the fact that there is a strong resentment against the turncoats who have joined the BJP along with Scindia, there is a very real fear that in the coming bypolls there may be more Jatavs who will rather support the opposition than make the “mistake” of allowing a usurper to succeed in their own turf. So, Scindia does have a fight on his hands, but the fight will be more from within the ranks, than outside. And we still don’t know exactly what the state CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan feels about Scindia making a lateral entry into his party.
Mukul Wasnik, the dark horse?
These days, the Congress is doing what it is best at—no, not opposing but speculating as to who will be the next Congress chief. Will Rahul Gandhi take the onus or will stick to his plans of appointing a non Gandhi (as he had stated last year)? The publication of a recent book on Gen Next leaders carrying an interview with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has only added to the speculation that this is on the cards, only there is a catch. According to party sources, this interview is not a recent one and could date back to last year, during the gap when Rahul had resigned and Sonia Gandhi had not yet taken charge. A lot has changed since then and this includes a more pro-active Rahul, as well as the positioning of some of his key aides in positions of power. This includes Ajay Maken’s elevation as party general secretary, Rajasthan, the return of Sachin Pilot orchestrated by Rahul and Priyanka, and others such as K.C. Venugopal, Sushmita Dev, Randeep Surjewala, Rajeev Satav getting more vocal at party fora, while Jitin Prasada has launched an ambitious plan to bring back the Brahmin vote in UP. All this is very well, but what if Rahul decides he needs to appoint a proxy? Who would he choose? It seems in this race, Mukul Wasnik is emerging as the front runner. He is a former IYC President and so is not someone who has had positions handed to him on a platter, is not overtly confrontationist or ambitious to be a threat to either the Old or the Young Guard. In fact, being middle aged (politically speaking) he neatly fits into the middle path that appeases all and threatens none. Well, that’s a criterion by itself.
Rajmohan Gandhi to the Rescue
If you look at any Congress leader’s Twitter post recently you will see a retweet of a recent article penned by Rajmohan Gandhi in defence of Rahul Gandhi. It’s interesting because in the article he takes on not a BJP IT cell troll, but someone who is known to lean more towards the left of centre than the right. Rajmohan Gandhi takes issue with historian Ramchandra Guha’s take on Rahul Gandhi, where the latter had argued why he thought Rahul should not be positioned as the Congress alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It’s interesting because it has been a while since a cogent defence of Rahul has been made (for reasons that perhaps the Congress leader is as much to be blamed as the media), but Gandhi does make a strong attempt at doing so in a spirit which brings back some sense of a debate on social media, which is normally riddled with cheap pot-shots on both sides. Such as the recent comments about Home Minister Amit Shah’s hospitalisation, or more recently jokes about the basement car park of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s Gurgaon apartment being flooded by the recent rains. Surely when neither the Covid nor the economic crisis is over, there are far more important issues to be discussed than either of the above two. As for the leadership crisis in Congress, that remains a perennial whipping horse, for journalists and trolls alike. And, as mentioned earlier, a chunk of the blame for the latter lies with the Congress itself.