Congress in disarray amid electoral battle cry
There seems to be no end to the struggle of Congress former chief Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who are already grappling with several internal party issues.
What is believed is that neither Congress leaders want the problems to end nor do they want Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra to get to the root of problems. As a result, the party is more entangled in internal complicated issues. The Congress is, therefore, unable to benefit from the BJP’S infighting in various states. Rahul seems to be ignorant of the fact that Congress needs to be strengthened in states. There is a perceptible lack of coordination in the Congress in the five states going to polls next month. This, despite the fact that these states are quite crucial for Congress. A defeat in Kerala will add to the problems of Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi should realise that the party is not in a position to move ahead despite the dissent among seniors.
P.C. Chako leaving Congress in Kerala does not augur well for Congress. Similarly, excluding dissenters from the list of campaigners and failure to check groupism in ticket allocation are not good indications. There is no denying that BJP stands to benefit from whatever is happening in Congress.
Congress will be in direct contest with BJP in the states which will go to polls next year. If dissenters’ issues snowballed into a bigger controversy then the situation arising out of it will have its bearing on the state elections to be held next year. Punjab, UP and Uttarakhand are some of the crucial states which will go to elections in 2021. All these states are quite important for Congress. The situation has come to such a pass that leaders in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam are engaged in personal attacks due only to weak central leadership. All are vying with each other to corner tickets for their kin. As a result, the Congress could not stop P.C. Chako, who was close to the Gandhi family, from leaving the party.
The incident of attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram put the Congress in a dilemma. The central leadership expressed some sort of sympathy, but the state Congress unit dubbed it as a drama. There is no good news for Congress in Assam. At such a time, Rahul Gandhi’s controversial statements were surprising. His comments on Jyotiraditya Scindia were more surprising. Scindia never targeted the party and the Gandhi family ever since he left the Congress. Rahul’s backbencher remark on Scindia was beyond comprehension. It indicates that Rahul is not given the right information. Political observers believe that leaders surrounding Rahul do not want him to understand the politics in its right perspective. There is still some opportunity for the Congress. But Rahul will have to take a call. The experiment of giving state unit charge to the youth will have to be stopped.
Priyanka Vadra is trying hard in UP, but there seems to be no change in the party’s graph. Congress could benefit from BJP’S weakness in Uttarakhand if its in-charge in the state would be some experienced leader in place of Devendra Yadav. Similarly, Uttarakhand PCC chief Preetam Singh, who was appointed by Rahul, seems to have his own parallel organisation. Former CM Harish Rawat has his own team. Rawat wants the party to declare a face in the state. His suggestion is logical as well. BJP fights keeping the face of PM Modi ahead. It is clear that BJP is facing infighting in several states such as Uttarakhand, Assam, Rajasthan, MP, Maharashtra and Haryana. It has changed CM in Uttarakhand in a bid to improve the situation.