Kapil Sibal’s dinner diplomacy has thrown up a lot of interesting observations about the state of the Congress. The first one being that this was a gathering of the Opposition without the Gandhis. Not only was the Congress party’s ‘First Family’ absent but it also came under the scanner with more than one ally questioning their ability to lead.
Recently Rahul Gandhi hosted a breakfast for the Opposition leaders ostensibly for floor coordination but in reality, it was a move to stake claim to the ‘Leader of the Opposition’ mantle before a resurgent Mamata Banerjee makes a bid for it. However as it turns out, Rahul’s breakfast lacked the heft of Sibal’s dinner. For one, Sibal managed to rope in the party leaders themselves and not their representatives as Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav, Omar Abdullah, and Jayant Chaudhary attended the meet. So did members of the AAP (Sanjay Singh), Akali Dal (Naresh Gujral) and the BJD (Pinaki Misra)—parties that normally boycott a Congress-led initiative for Opposition unity. So, did their presence indicate that their hesitation is not so much against the Congress, as it is against the Gandhis? Well, at least one of them minced no words in saying so. Naresh Gujral is believed to have told the others that the only way the Congress can strengthen itself is, “if it gets out of the clutches of the family”. Omar Abdullah too spoke of the need to bring in reforms within the Congress and strengthen the party, though he did not mention the Gandhis.
The allies have a point. As both Pavan Varma and Sanjay Jha have pointed out on the NewsX political debate show ‘The Roundtable’ (incidentally both were present at the dinner) that in as many as 195 seats there is a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP. The last time (in 2019), the BJP won 175 of these seats. How can the rest of the Opposition hope to take on the BJP when it gets such a huge head start, courtesy the Congress?
While there was talk of the coming Uttar Pradesh polls, there was also a voice of caution underlining the talk. The dominant feeling (left unsaid perhaps because of Akhilesh Yadav’s presence at the meet) was that the SP would not be able to halt the BJP’s return to power in the state. And so, the UP elections should not be projected as a semi-final for the simple reason that the Opposition doesn’t have enough time to get together to mount a credible challenge. However, leaving aside Uttar Pradesh and before the next general elections, around 11 states are slated to go to the polls, and Congress has a chance of winning 6 of these. These include Uttarakhand and Karnataka. But for this to happen the party needs to get its act together and focus on the states it can win, i.e. the low-hanging fruit instead of wasting its energies (and Priyanka Gandhi) on a losing battle.
Rasheed Kidwai the author of ‘24 Akbar Road’ has hinted that “something momentous” could happen in the Congress on 20 August which is Rajiv Gandhi’s birth anniversary. There is some talk of Sonia Gandhi forming a committee of four/five leaders (with both Rahul and Priyanka onboard) to manage party affairs until the election of a new party chief. Prashant Kishor is also in talks to join the party, though he has laid down some conditions, asking for a free hand to bring in some much-needed changes. The Gandhis seem to be willing to grant him this free hand but Kishor should remember—the rules of engagement can change once he is inside the chicken coop, giving him little room to manoeuvre. Already senior Congress leaders like Kamal Nath, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bhupender Hooda, and Anand Sharma are said to be against the party being handed over on a platter to an “outsider”.
But one thing is clear, that unless the Congress gets its act together, the BJP has a clear run.