Should Rahul Gandhi announce that he will not be a PM candidate from the Opposition? While it is politically suicidal for any politician to rule himself out from the highest (political) office, Rahul is already on record stating that for him, power is poison. And since then, none of his actions have shown that he disagrees with the said statement. His Bharat Jodo Yatra was flagged off as a non-political conversation, though of course anti-BJP politics was the sub-text. But if you look at his political trajectory, the former Congress President seems happier playing the role of an ideologue or party mentor, rather than executor. In fact, he even ruled himself out of the race for the post of party president during the recent inner party elections—notwithstanding the fact that the post was his for the asking.
So he is planning a Sonia redux? And power without the post has its own perks. He should know. Moreover, even if the party does come to power (at some shape, form and time in a present continuous world), then it’s very possible that Rahul will not take the PM’s chair but instead appoint his own Dr Manmohan Singh—this could be anyone from Mallikarjun Kharge to Dr Raghuram Rajan.
Given all this, why doesn’t Rahul come straight out and rule himself out of the PM’s race? That will assuage the Opposition that is very wary of making 2024 a Rahul vs Modi battle if they align with the Congress. It would certainly make the Congress a very viable option from the allies’ point of view. One reason why the likes of Mamata Bannerjee, Chadrasekhar Rao and Arvind Kejriwal are exploring a Third Front is because each fancies herself or himself as the PM candidate from the Opposition. The Congress would do well to keep this space open and take its chances with the allies.
Of course, one would say—and Kharge has said it—that there is no need to decide on the PM face right now. That the Congress will happily support any anti-BJP formation. But having said this, Kharge also added that the Congress is the only pan India party in the Opposition and therefore no Opposition formation is possible without the Congress. That leaves room for ambiguity as to what role the Congress will play in such a formation. If it is a lead role, then a Congress person will emerge as the PM face. And the only face that the Congress can unitedly agree upon is Rahul. Which brings us back to square one.
To avoid all this, why doesn’t Rahul come out with a statement of intent and rule himself out as the PM face, but as one who will be fighting for the “greater good” of Opposition unity vs the BJP? Now that won’t be poison, but it will have its own power matrix.