As the campaign for assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana ended on Monday, one fact went unnoticed: most of the Congress’ big guns were nowhere to be seen.
Until the party suffered its worst-ever electoral drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections five months ago, several Congress ministers maintained a high profile, making statements in the press and appearing on television. But soon after the poll results, they seem to have disappeared from the political radar. Even though the assembly polls in these two states are vital for the very survival of the Congress, these erstwhile heavyweight party leaders were conspicuous by their absence.
By contrast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dominated the campaigns in Maharashtra and Haryana, a marked contrast to his absence during the Uttar Pradesh elections only weeks ago.
Here is a status report of the missing mandarins of the Congress.
Dr. Manmohan Singh: Congress insiders say the party units in both Maharashtra and Haryana had placed request with the high command for the former Prime Minister to address at least one election rally each in of the two states. But Singh did not show up. He has been sighted in Delhi on rare occasions, as on October 2 at Rajghat or on October 3 to celebrate Dussehra, but is generally said to lead a life of isolation, writing his autobiography.
P Chidambaram: The former Finance Minister, who was one of the front-ranking leaders of the United Progressive Alliance government, is remembered in the Congress for his vanishing acts. He refused to contest the Lok Sabha elections and got his son Karti Chidambaram to contest from his seat Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu. (Karti lost the seat.) Since May 16, the day the Lok Sabha results were announced, Chidambaram has held only one press conference, though he is one of the senior spokespersons of the party.
Kapil Sibal: The former minister of telecommunication, law and justice is back to his roaring legal practice. Though Congressmen confirm he is still a member of the party, he is hardly ever seen participating in party activities. Until May 16, he was one of the most vocal leaders of the Congress and used be called the party's "data master".
Manish Tewari: The former information and broadcasting minister has, like Sibal, returned to his legal practice. However, he often hijacks the political agenda of the day by giving interviews to journalists, much to the discomfort of the communication department of the Congress. Like Chidambaram, he, too, refused to defend his Ludhiana seat in Punjab.
Jairam Ramesh: The former rural development minister is busy writing articles and columns for various newspapers.
Salman Khursheed: The former minority affairs minister has also fallen back on his legal practice. His decision to take up the cases of Tarun Tejpal and Asharam Bapu evoked sharp criticism in the Congress, but he was undeterred. Unlike the other lawyers, though, he has not completely cut himself off from the Congress and addresses party’s press conferences once a week.
Sushilkumar Shinde: Since his defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, the former union home minister is not even sighted at a public event in Delhi. During the Maharashtra campaign, he addressed meetings in the Sholapur City Central constituency, where his daughter Praniti Shinde is contesting on a Congress ticket, but was not visible in the rest of the state.
This not to suggest that all the prominent Congress leaders have scrambled off the ship. Four of them continue to solider on.
Anand Sharma: The former commerce minister has remained undeterred by the party’s loss in the Lok Sabha elections and is still working full time for the Congress. In addition to his role as Deputy Leader of Congress in the Rajya Sabha, he has been holding press conferences regularly. Not only has he been making frequent frontal attacks on the Narendra Modi regime on various policy-related issues, he is also said to have helped the Congress develop its economic policy case vis-à-vis the new government.
Ghulam Nabi Azad: As the Leader of the Congress in Rajya Sabha, his performance has been quite effective. He is now concentrating on Jammu and Kashmir, where elections are due few months later.
Mallikarjun Kharge: The former railway minister is said to have become even more active after the party’s May defeat. Party insiders say Kharge, as the Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, has done every effort to make party's voice count in every issue of national importance. He has also been discharging other party responsibilities rather efficiently.
AK Antony: Though the former defence minister has confined himself to Kerala, party insiders say he still remains a full-time Congress politician. He was the head of the committee that tried to establish the reasons for the party's catastrophic failure May. He is now trying to regain a foothold in his home state despite his strained relations with Chief Minister Oomen Chandy.
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Until the party suffered its worst-ever electoral drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections five months ago, several Congress ministers maintained a high profile, making statements in the press and appearing on television. But soon after the poll results, they seem to have disappeared from the political radar. Even though the assembly polls in these two states are vital for the very survival of the Congress, these erstwhile heavyweight party leaders were conspicuous by their absence.
By contrast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dominated the campaigns in Maharashtra and Haryana, a marked contrast to his absence during the Uttar Pradesh elections only weeks ago.
Here is a status report of the missing mandarins of the Congress.
Dr. Manmohan Singh: Congress insiders say the party units in both Maharashtra and Haryana had placed request with the high command for the former Prime Minister to address at least one election rally each in of the two states. But Singh did not show up. He has been sighted in Delhi on rare occasions, as on October 2 at Rajghat or on October 3 to celebrate Dussehra, but is generally said to lead a life of isolation, writing his autobiography.
P Chidambaram: The former Finance Minister, who was one of the front-ranking leaders of the United Progressive Alliance government, is remembered in the Congress for his vanishing acts. He refused to contest the Lok Sabha elections and got his son Karti Chidambaram to contest from his seat Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu. (Karti lost the seat.) Since May 16, the day the Lok Sabha results were announced, Chidambaram has held only one press conference, though he is one of the senior spokespersons of the party.
Kapil Sibal: The former minister of telecommunication, law and justice is back to his roaring legal practice. Though Congressmen confirm he is still a member of the party, he is hardly ever seen participating in party activities. Until May 16, he was one of the most vocal leaders of the Congress and used be called the party's "data master".
Manish Tewari: The former information and broadcasting minister has, like Sibal, returned to his legal practice. However, he often hijacks the political agenda of the day by giving interviews to journalists, much to the discomfort of the communication department of the Congress. Like Chidambaram, he, too, refused to defend his Ludhiana seat in Punjab.
Jairam Ramesh: The former rural development minister is busy writing articles and columns for various newspapers.
Salman Khursheed: The former minority affairs minister has also fallen back on his legal practice. His decision to take up the cases of Tarun Tejpal and Asharam Bapu evoked sharp criticism in the Congress, but he was undeterred. Unlike the other lawyers, though, he has not completely cut himself off from the Congress and addresses party’s press conferences once a week.
Sushilkumar Shinde: Since his defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, the former union home minister is not even sighted at a public event in Delhi. During the Maharashtra campaign, he addressed meetings in the Sholapur City Central constituency, where his daughter Praniti Shinde is contesting on a Congress ticket, but was not visible in the rest of the state.
This not to suggest that all the prominent Congress leaders have scrambled off the ship. Four of them continue to solider on.
Anand Sharma: The former commerce minister has remained undeterred by the party’s loss in the Lok Sabha elections and is still working full time for the Congress. In addition to his role as Deputy Leader of Congress in the Rajya Sabha, he has been holding press conferences regularly. Not only has he been making frequent frontal attacks on the Narendra Modi regime on various policy-related issues, he is also said to have helped the Congress develop its economic policy case vis-à-vis the new government.
Ghulam Nabi Azad: As the Leader of the Congress in Rajya Sabha, his performance has been quite effective. He is now concentrating on Jammu and Kashmir, where elections are due few months later.
Mallikarjun Kharge: The former railway minister is said to have become even more active after the party’s May defeat. Party insiders say Kharge, as the Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, has done every effort to make party's voice count in every issue of national importance. He has also been discharging other party responsibilities rather efficiently.
AK Antony: Though the former defence minister has confined himself to Kerala, party insiders say he still remains a full-time Congress politician. He was the head of the committee that tried to establish the reasons for the party's catastrophic failure May. He is now trying to regain a foothold in his home state despite his strained relations with Chief Minister Oomen Chandy.