Several theories are doing the rounds on why did Congress implode and collapse in Punjab when it could have perhaps retained power. The massive infighting and lack of a clear strategy of the Congress-led to a well-deserved landslide victory for the Aam Aadmi Party, which has now to turn the various challenges into opportunities to leave its mark on both the politics and governance of this border State. The AAP’s win was an expression of change by the electorate, which was fed up by the daily bickerings in the Congress and the charges against the Akali Dal, and decided to give the youngest political party a chance to serve the people. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his team have embarked on a historic journey and every resident of Punjab and the rest of the country wishes them success in whatever they do.
Coming back to the fall of the Congress, an analysis based on hindsight suggests that after Captain Amarinder Singh decided to put in his papers as the Chief Minister, ending his four and half years’ tenure, the Congress High Command offered the post to senior leader Ambika Soni. According to some reports, even the Captain called her up and told her to take charge However, Ambika Soni declined the offer and is said to have told Rahul Gandhi, that only a Sikh should be the CM of the State. Rahul was apparently surprised and retorted that it was the first time anyone in the Congress had declined to accept a coveted position, to which Ambika replied the second time; the first was when Sonia Gandhi had opted out of the Prime Minister’s race way back in 2004, when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was able to wrest power from the NDA, leading to Dr Manmohan Singh replacing Atal Behari Vajpayee as the Prime Minister.
Following Ambika’s no to the offer, the Congress High Command after several flip flops, appointed Charanjit Singh Channi, causing huge resentment in the other hopefuls such as Navjot Singh Sidhu, Sukhjinder Singh Randhwa, and Sunil Jakhar. In fact, till today, Jakhar seems to hold Ambika responsible for his not becoming the CM when there is no evidence to substantiate this claim. His lament is that Congress should not have looked at the religious aspect of who should be the CM since it was in variance with its ideology. Sidhu reacted by training his guns on Channi on day one and simply demolished the Congress campaign.
However, coming back to the analysis regarding Ambika, who happens to be the senior-most Parliamentarian in the current Parliament; she was elected for the first time to Rajya Sabha from Punjab in a by-election in 1976 when Giani Zail Singh was the Chief Minister and she was the president of the Indian Youth Congress. The hypothetical theory in many quarters is that had she accepted the offer, Captain Amarinder Singh with whom she shared a close bond at one time, would not have left the Congress. During the run-up to the time when dissidence against him was gaining momentum, fanned by the Central leadership, he had an over two-hour meeting with Ambika at her Lodi Estate residence where he was accompanied by their common friend and former External Affairs Minister, Salman Khurshid.
Thus, in the uncomfortable scenario that emerged for the Captain when the High Command wanted to have a Legislative party meeting in Chandigarh with the obvious motive of ousting him, he would have been ok with Ambika’s name. This was primarily because she did not present any threat to him since she is not a mass leader of the State but is senior enough to keep things under check. Sidhu and others would have fallen in line and the fierce infighting that was witnessed in the public domain would not have broken out. Many leaders who quit the Congress to join AAP or BJP would have perhaps remained where they were and the Congress would have presented a united face in Punjab and not that of a divided house. Ambika due to her advancing years would have been seen by most Congress hopefuls as a stop-gap arrangement, playing the role of a unifier.
The leadership question could have been determined after the polls. But that was probably not destined to happen. The AICC in-charge of the State, Harish Chaudhury contributed to this mess by his poor handling and understanding of Punjab’s politics. Now the situation is such that the Captain has lost and so have all those who joined the BJP. Even the invincible Badals landed on the losing side. The AAP rode to an unprecedented victory. The message for the Congress is clear: “Sab kuch loota ke hosh mein aaye to kya hua’’ (What is the use of waking up when you voluntarily and willfully allowed everything you had to be squandered away). Neither the Captain is happy nor is the Congress High Command, Sidhu, Channi, and the rest. Defeat can be very cruel. But for the people of the State, Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal have brought back hope.
