Rahul aides set to come under fire
CWC to be held today; Kamal Nath pushes polls for party posts
Congress vice- president Rahul Gandhi’s close advisers may come under attack at the Congress Working Committee meeting that will be held here Monday, soon after the party’s worst performance in a general election after Independence. While party managers set the tone of the meeting by saying “it is a collective responsibility”, in a bid to contain dis- sent, this line may help several party CMs and PCC chiefs to prolong their stay for some time.
Outgoing minister Kamal Nath toed Rahul Gandhi’s line of filling party posts by internal elections, suggesting on Sunday that CWC members be elected through elections, saying it was time to end the “culture of patronage”.
Late Congress chiefs P. V. Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri had elec- tions to choose CWC members at AICC plenaries in Tirupati ( 1992) and Kolkata ( 1997). But that created major rivals for them, with Arjun Singh and Rajesh Pilot emerging as claimants for the highest posts in the party.
If the CWC undertakes this exercise seriously, it has to ruthlessly identify mistakes in election planning, strategy and campaigning. The BJP wanted to make the election a Narendra Modi vs Rahul Gandhi contest, and the Congress fell right into that trap. The CWC members, who are nominated by chief Sonia Gandhi, are unlikely to attack the Nehru- Gandhi family directly, but may question the role of advisers.
The 2014 polls were fought under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, who was its campaign committee chief though not projected as its PM candidate.
As the Congress has failed to open its account in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, and its performance in UP, Maharashtra, Bihar, MP, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu was pathetic, Mr Rahul Gandhi will have to explain to the CWC why his team failed in the general election.
Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s decision to split Andhra Pradesh went against the Congress in Telangana and Seemandhra as well.
“Communal polarisation and disinformation campaign of Narendra Modi and the BJP are not the only factors when went against us, but arrogance of leaders in the government and the party, and disconnect with the people led to our humiliating defeat,” said one insider.
Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan is facing a lot of pressure within the party to quit. Reports claim that said a Pune city Congress leader made this demand while state leader Anant Gadgil said the state unit must call a brainstorming session to discuss the results.
Anil Shastri, a special invitee to the CWC, said: “Serious introspection is needed, but surely not like in the past when suggestions arising out of the introspection were never implemented.” Mr Shastri, son of late PM Lal Bahadur Shastri, is said to have written a letter to Mr Rahul Gandhi on what went wrong and what needs to be done to get the party back on the rails.