Will Mahua Moitra join the Congress?
As of late, Mahua Moitra, the feisty TMC leader has been sidelined by her party leadership and recently is seen more with Congress leaders than with her own party MPs, most of whom she is in a turf war with. During the Smriti Irani-Sonia Gandhi face-off in Parliament, it was both Mahua and NCP’s Supriya Sule who were present in the House and went and stood beside Sonia as members of the Treasury Benches surrounded the Congress president. Later, it was Mahua who was most vocal in taking on BJP MPs and even tweeted her version of the events stating that “Was in the Lok Sabha when 75 year old senior leader was encircled and heckled pack-wolf style…”. Interestingly, if Mahua does make her way back to the Congress, it would be a “ghar wapsi” of sorts for she was first in the Congress before she joined the TMC. And her exit was the Congress party’s loss for she emerged as an articulate voice in Parliament, taking on the government, while in the Congress she was not even given prime time debating slots. I guess one thing holding her back would be the lack of a Congress organization in her home state, for being a Congress leader from West Bengal is an oxymoron by itself.
Can Kamal Nath-J.P. Nadda break the ice?
There seems to be a stalemate between the opposition and the government, without a senior leader of some stature to act as a go-between. In the early years of the Narendra Modi government that task was done by the late Arun Jaitley, who had both the PM’s confidence and also a working rapport with the Congress leadership. After him there is no one who can fill this gap—from either side—though Piyush Goyal along with the Speaker of the Lok Sabha managed to work out a short-term compromise with the Congress to get the House working again. However, both sides could appoint two leaders who have the heft as well as some cross-party goodwill. If the Congress manages to tear Kamal Nath away from state politics he would be a valuable emissary, plus his negotiating skills are tried and tested. From its side, the BJP could rope in J.P. Nadda, who has the stature of office, plus his amiable nature hasn’t rubbed the Congress the wrong way, yet. It could be worth a shot because both the government and the main opposition party need to start talking governance again.
Back to Sonia Gandhi Again
Although the Congress party’s inner party elections are scheduled to take place soon, it does seem as if the entire exercise could be put into cold storage (yes, again), with Sonia Gandhi continuing in the president’s chair. She has suddenly been very active, post her face-off with Smriti Irani on the floor of the Lok Sabha. During the protest march to Rashtrapati Bhavan, Sonia could be seen sitting on the steps of the Parliament along with other party MPs, wearing a black sari—the colour of protest. More importantly, Congress leaders have noted that when Rahul Gandhi was summoned by the ED, the rest of the opposition did not protest very much, but Sonia’s summons got a much wider reaction. Certainly, Sonia enjoys considerable goodwill with other opposition leaders, dwarfing not just Rahul Gandhi but also the cross-party appeal of other aspirants like Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar and Arvind Kejriwal, who want to emerge as leader of the combined opposition. Plus, Sonia’s candidature would be backed by all sections of the Congress, including the G23. The only section that may have a problem are the “outsiders” who are an integral part of Team Rahul. And therein lies a twist.