Worried over a series of electoral defeats, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi has formed six coordination committees and accommodated dissenters and other leaders equally in these panels. Thus, Sonia Gandhi has tried to unite the party. Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Mukul Wasnik, who are said to be of the leaders of disgruntled group, have been made conveners of different committees. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Manish Tewari have been accommodated in other committees. The Chintan Shivir (brainstorming session) of the party will be held from 13 May to 15 May at Udaipur in Rajasthan. It was in 2013 when a Chitan Shivir had been organised at Jaipur in which Rahul Gandhi had been given responsibility of the post of vice president. The party has been facing electoral defeats since then.
Undeniably, the Congress is passing through the worst phase of its journey. It is facing an existential crisis. After disappointing performances by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Sonia Gandhi has become active and has decided that the party should chalk out a strategy afresh during the Chintan Shivir.
Ahead of the brainstorming, the party seems to be divided on poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s possible entry into Congress. Though nobody is coming on record against him, a big faction of the party is not happy with Kishor. Indications are such that only Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wants Kishor to be associated with the Congress. But Rahul Gandhi is not said to be in favour of this proposal that much. In fact, a final decision on Kishor is yet to be taken. But there is doubt about his entry in the Congress. It may be shelved as well. The formation of committees suggests that Sonia Gandhi has relied again on the veterans. Hooda has been given charge of the committee on farmers and agriculture, while Wasnik has been made convenor of the committee on organizational affairs. Nine leaders including Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister T.S. Singh Deo have been given to Hooda in his committee. Similarly, Ajay Maken and Tariq Anwar are with Wasnik in his committee. Mallikarjuna Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Chavan and Shashi Tharoor have been given the responsibility of committee on political affairs. Amarinder Singh has been given charge of the youth affairs committee, which will have nine leaders including Youth Congress president B.V. Sriniwas. Salman Khurshid has been made convenor of the committee on social justice affairs. Digvijaya Singh, Selja Kumari and Meira Kumar will be with Khurshid. Similarly, the economic affairs committee will be headed by P. Chidambaram, who will have Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari and Sachin Pilot in the committee.
These committees will present their reports during the Shivir for debate. The “Chintan Shivir” will discuss the present political scenario, and will also take a call on the alliance. The biggest challenge for the Shivir will be to zero in on a suitable face, given the fact that PM Narendra Modi is a leader who changes all political equations during elections. So the Congress will have to take a call on whether someone from the Gandhi family will lead the party or outside the family.
(With agency inputs)
