As is evident from the last parliament session, Sonia Gandhi has stepped in for damage control, post the recent assembly election debacle. As interim president of the party she was merely holding the fort in name while her son, Rahul Gandhi took most of the decisions. But this power without accountability rebounded on the party as it merely created two power centres, leading to conflict rather than quick decisive leadership. Sonia Gandhi said as much when she told the CWC post the assembly elections defeat that one of the reasons the Congress did badly in Punjab was that she delayed the decision to remove Capt Amarinder Singh as chief minister.
The decision to replace Captain was taken by Rahul Gandhi. And the delay resulted in giving the new CM Charanjit Singh Channi barely any time to consolidate his position right on the eve of the assembly polls. Not removing Navjyot Singh Sidhu as the PCC Chief was another mistake but that is one that no one from the leadership has owned up to. Asking for his ouster post the polls is merely putting a lock on the stable door after the horse has bolted.
But there is still a lesson that can be learnt from this exercise— if Congress is in a learning mode. The first of course is to begin preparing for the next round of assembly polls. These include Gujarat and Himachal where not just the BJP but even the AAP has begun its campaign. The second is to look beyond, to consolidate what it has in hand.
This includes, not repeating the same last-minute change of leadership fiasco in other states. Given the fact that the only other states where there are Congress chief ministers are Rajasthan and Chattisgarh, it is easy to spot the reference to context. While Chattisgarh seems stable with CM Bhupesh Baghel proving to be a valuable election manager outside the state as well, it is Rajasthan that still sees some turmoil. Former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot has reportedly been promised that he would be made chief minister well before the next round of assembly polls and the Congress would fight these under his leadership. (The elections in Rajasthan are due at the end of 2023, which is about a year and a half away). So if the Gandhis plan to keep their promise to Pilot then it would be prudent to make that change now, rather than later.
Leaving it to the last minute could have some nasty repercussions, as is what happened in Punjab all too recently.
Conventionally speaking, the state of Rajasthan goes in for a musical-chairs sort of election, favouring the Congress and the BJP turn by turn. But at the moment the state BJP is in no better shape than the Congress. In fact, some would say it’s worse as it lacks one stable leader. Former CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia is out of favour with the central leadership but still holds sway over a chunk of state MLAs. It would be difficult to discount her claims especially as there is no other leader tall enough to replace her within the state BJP.
This is perhaps why Home Minister Amit Shah recently stated that the BJP would fight the elections without a CM face but under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Now, in leadership terms that’s a cop-out; it is also an excuse for denying Raje the top job and she is savvy enough to get the message. Will she play along or stage a coup closer to the polls?
Hence if Congress wants to effect a regime change in Rajasthan and bring the veteran Ashok Gehlot to Delhi where his organisational skills would be of use then now is the time. Otherwise, Sonia Gandhi could well be addressing yet another CWC taking the blame for another debacle. And this time round (from what we are told) the decision-making mantle is back at 10 Janpath with Rahul Gandhi’s office providing inputs and footnotes.