As alliance fails, UP ladke confirm elders’ concerns

The Congress debacle in Uttar Pradesh has once again raised questions over the leadership of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who has been at the helm of affairs since 2013.

One view is that since the May 2013 Assembly election in Karnataka, Mr Gandhi has not been able to win any election for his party. Many party leaders differ, saying even in the current round of polls, the Congress has swept Punjab while sowing a good performance in Manipur and Goa.

But it’s the staggering loss for the party in Uttarakhand where it lost the government. The party has been decimated in UP, which has again set the cat among the pigeons, considering that UP is considered the home of the NehruGandhi family.

Though the party won in Punjab after 10 years, the credit is being given the charisma of its chief ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh. Almost a year back, Mr Singh was unhappy with the party functioning. He had publicly said that Congress president Sonia Gandhi should lead and Mr Gandhi has a lot to learn.

The knives are out again but it seems unlikely that they will draw blood. Congress Uttar Pradesh general secretary Umesh Pandit has already said the blame of this defeat squarely lies on Rahul Gandhi and that he should make way for his sister, Priyanka Gandhi, to lead the party.

However, party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi tried to downplay the seriousness of the defeat by saying “The Uttar Pradesh is a bad loss, it hurts...I agree that in UP, we need fundamental restructuring of the party as a whole. These have to be hard, tough decisions about strategy.”

Some behind-thescenes utterances against Mr Gandhi have been made by senior leaders but most suggest replacement should be a member of the NehruGandhi family. As the grand old party has been plagued by the “crab culture”, the only rallying point of the Congressmen has been the Nehru-Gandhi family.

In the last Congress Working Committee meeting, senior leaders urged Mr Gandhi to take over as the party chief. Some leaders constantly complain that Rahul is not accessible.

Observers say despite the repeated defeats in crucial states, Mr Gandhi seems tied down with the party.

In Uttar Pradesh, the entire campaign was initially planned around him. He embarked on a monthlong Kisan Yatra but then the campaign went silent for two months. The Congress’ own chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit withdrew following the alliance with the SP. The best fish swim near the bottom but the Congress has made it a habit of swimming at the top.

If the party has hit rock bottom in the UP assembly elections with seven seats, it should make sure that some heads roll at the top-especially those who had unrelentingly insisted on the alliance between Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav — often described as UP ke ladke.

The discomfort of a section of party leaders has been evident since talks of alliance began.

The Congress has made a remarkable beginning six months before the elections when Mr Rahul Gandhi embarked on his Kisan Yatra and UPCC president Raj Babbar and other leaders took out the ‘27 saal, UP behaal’ yatras.

After prepping the party