Congress saviour-in-chief Sonia Gandhi who had voluntarily stepped aside a couple of years ago to make way for her son Rahul Gandhi, is back. The fact that party top brass literally coerced Sonia to take charge as an interim President goes a long way to show that the Gandhis are the only ‘glue’ that holds the party together.
Call it dynastic politics or the sheer dominance of the Gandhis, it appears the party is in no position to look beyond. Prominent names in the party like Mallikarjun Kharge, Mukul Wasnik and Jyotiraditya Scindia which were proposed at the sub-group discussions had very few takers and even newcomer Priyanka failed to make an impression.
With the Congress leadership deadlocked, the party even faced possible splits if a leadership was to be imposed outside the Gandhi clan. Sonia may have saved the situation, but on the flip side, Congress lost a golden opportunity to come out of the shadow of the Gandhis and begin afresh.
It’s a pity that senior party leaders had to literally plead with Rahul to reconsider his decision and stay on. Rahul found praise from a large section for what they termed as ‘courage’. The irony is that Rahul abandoned the ship when there was a crisis. If by any measure there was courage to be displayed, Rahul should have put a roadmap in place and handed over the baton after ensuring that the party is in safe hands.
Sonia steps in at a time when the chips are down and the party is in shambles.The party’s morale has been hit very badly after its humiliating defeat at the recent Lok Sabha polls. Partisan family politics of top leaders was partly responsible for the downfall and even Rahul had admitted the fact that he was misguided by his own senior partymen while allocating tickets. Sonia had been at the helm between 1998 and 2017, but she faces a changed political landscape now. Besides facing an uphill task of clearing the party rot, there is a towering opposition against whom she has to battle. First up will be the crucial assembly elections in Delhi in February 2020.
All eyes will be on Sonia and her revival plan even as the much-talked about old verses new dilemma continues to haunt. With the party rallying behind the old warhorse, it remains to be seen if Sonia could prove to be the binding force across sections and galvanize the party.
In Sonia, the Congress has only worked out an interim arrangement settling for a tried and tested leader. But that doesn’t look to be a long term solution. Irrespective of the outcomes, the dependence on the Gandhis is as clear as daylight. With Rahul persistently turning down leadership requests and Priyanka yet to find acceptability across the party, the future ahead looks very hazy. The onus will be on Sonia to chart out a roadmap for the party.
