The Congress is once again facing desertions on the eve of the crucial 2024 Parliamentary polls, and it is evident that some of its leaders, sensing defeat, seem to be drifting towards the Sangh Parivar and its allies. The latest instance is that of Milind Deora, whose father
Murli Deora served as the party treasurer and held many positions due to his close proximity with the Gandhi family. Milind’s declaration to leave the Congress and join the
Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) coincided with the commencement of Rahul Gandhi’s Nyaya Yatra in Manipur on 14 January. He cited several reasons for his leaving the party,
the foremost being the inability of the leadership to deliver on its promises.
Many political pundits from Mumbai, however, are of the view that after the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray)-Congress alliance in Maharashtra, it was unlikely that Milind would
have been fielded from Bombay South, the constituency he represented earlier, and from where he was defeated the last two times. Arvind Sawant is the sitting Shiv Sena (UT) MP
from there and is certain to be renominated for the polls. Therefore, Milind could make out that his close rapport with the Gandhi family would not work, and he would have to either sit as an idle spectator in the 2024 polls or change sides to make himself politically relevant. The grapevine has it that he could be given a Rajya Sabha berth in April by his
new party, and thus would find himself back in Parliament, like many of his erstwhile colleagues, who like him, left the Congress to join hands with the BJP or some other party.
Prior to him, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, R.P.N. Singh were amongst those who shifted their loyalties. What needs to be understood is that why these leaders, all of them
considered close to the Gandhis, and once a part of the Rahul Gandhi brigade, decided to move over. All of them are dynasts and owe their positions to their fathers who were
once prominent politicians. There is also one thing common amongst all of them, which is that they had all parachuted into the political arena, and had not come up through the
organization route starting from the NSUI and Youth Congress with the sole exception of Sushmita Dev, who joined the Trinamool Congress, after holding several party positions.
Many years ago, in a one-on-one interaction with the then party president, Sonia Gandhi, I was taken aback when she wanted to know my opinion regarding the young leaders in
the Congress. Eager to know her view on the subject, I said that they were all promising youngsters but how would she rate them. Sonia is very perceptive and shrewd at under
standing certain matters and she stated that there were two categories of young leaders in the Congress. Those who solely owed their positions to their families and some who had a
political background but had made their way up. While the leaders who have left were categorized as those who were there because of their families, she singled out both Bharat
Solanki in Gujarat and Ajay Maken in Delhi as leaders who could offer something concrete to the party and the government. It was not before long that after this conversation that
Ajay Maken was inducted in the Union Council of Ministers and Bharat Solanki was made the Congress chief in Gujarat. The point is that being from a political family was not
enough to get catapulted to power. There had to be other qualities that also mattered.
Milind Deora, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, R.P.N. Singh and others are very fine and efficient leaders but their contribution to the Congress has been negligible, and the BJP, which engineered their defection, also is keeping them as mere “trophies” to show down the Congress. This is be cause their political incremental value is suspect, and the BJP also knows that they lack the grassroots connect; Himanta Biswa Sarma in Assam is the only person even the BJP leadership considers as a prize catch.
Nevertheless, the Congress must also look inwards why these leaders, who had been pampered and groomed by the party left it suddenly. There must be something wrong with
the leadership model that is being followed. Not everyone who is in the grand old party agrees with the selection of people and Rahul Gandhi’s style of functioning, and if they are silent on the subject, it is because their continuation would become difficult if they were to speak their mind.
Therefore, Rahul Gandhi must realise that he needs to have a re-look at those around him, and whether they understand the ideology as well as the history of the party that has been
nurtured by five generations of the Nehru-Gandhis. If he is at fault, he must correct himself and if others do not meet his exacting standards, they should be frankly spoken to.
Mallikarjun Kharge has been doing exceedingly well as the party chief and his experience is reflected in his manner of functioning. He needs to be given greater space and freedom to make his choices and without any further delay, he should appoint a political secretary in the organization, since there is no one amongst the Rahul coterie who measures up to the
kind of challenges the party faces. Sonia Gandhi had the good fortune of getting advice from many seasoned players but it is her son who sometimes needs wise counsel in these troubled times. Between us