Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s inability to deal with growing rebellion in the party-led state governments has forced Sonia Gandhi to emerge from semi-retirement and take charge of the situation.
The party leadership woke up to the crisis after the Bharatiya Janata Party helped dislodge the Congress governments in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in recent weeks and is now targetting Manipur and Himachal Pradesh. All these Congress-led state governments have been in the grip of deepening dissidence for several months but Rahul Gandhi has not been able to resolve this crisis.
Sonia Gandhi moved quickly to take stock of the prevailing situation in Himachal Pradesh at a hurriedly convened meeting on Monday with Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh after the Uttarakhand crisis came to a head on Easter Sunday when the Centre imposed President’s rule in the state. She plans to follow this up with meetings with the chief ministers of Manipur, Karnataka and Meghalaya in the coming days to get a first-hand report on the internal bickering in the state units.
Sonia Gandhi has already had a meeting with Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and deputy chief minister Gaikhangam following reports that as many as 25 of the 48 legislators had raised a banner of revolt. Having learnt a bitter lesson from its losses in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand where rebel MLAs complained that their grievances were not addressed by the party leadership, Sonia Gandhi acted quickly to quell dissidence in the North Eastern state. Responding to the complaints of the dissidents, she replaced Manipur Congress chief Gaikhangam with TN Haokip on Tuesday in the hope it will placate them.
Meaning, down south...
Like his counterparts in other Congress-ruled states, Karnataka Chief Minister K.Siddaramaiah is also in deep trouble. A large number of legislators are gunning for him and there are periodic demands for his removal on the plea that the party will pay a heavy electoral price in the next state elections if Siddaramaiah remains chief minister because the electorate has become disillusioned with him.
In Himachal Pradesh, the Virbhadra Singh government is particularly vulnerable as its survival is dependent on the support of four independent MLAs. The chief minister is also on a weak wicket as his properties in Delhi have been attached by the Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating money laundering cases against him. The BJP is in touch with rebel legislators as resentment against Singh has been building up for several months. Like in the case of Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the disgruntled MLAs from Himachal Pradesh have also complained that they are not being heard by the party leadership.
Although Sonia Gandhi has delegated most of her responsibilities to Rahul Gandhi for over a year now, she clearly felt the need to step in after the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government imposed President’s rule in Uttarakhand. Congress leaders are not saying so openly but they privately admit that Sonia Gandhi’s sudden decision to step up her involvement in party affairs is tantamount to a vote of no-confidence in the Nehru-Gandhi scion.
In the background
It is an open secret in the Congress that Sonia Gandhi is keen to hand over the reins of the party to Rahul Gandhi at the earliest. But since the exact timing of his formal anointment as party president remains a subject of speculation, the Congress president has deliberately retreated into the background and allowed him greater say in organisational matters.
Sonia Gandhi became less vocal and visible after Rahul Gandhi returned from a mysterious sabbatical nearly a year ago and has routinely directed party members to him. “Whenever we go go to meet Sonia Gandhi, she listens patiently to us but then asks us to discuss the matter with Rahul Gandhi,” remarked a Congress leader.
The Congress vice-president has led the Congress offensive against the ruling alliance in Parliament and has been the party’s chief campaigner in recent assembly elections. Rahul Gandhi was also pushed to the forefront in the seat sharing negotiations with the Janata Dal (U) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal in the run-up to last year’s Bihar assembly elections.
Although Congress members have grudgingly accepted that Rahul Gandhi will eventually take over the reins of the party, they also maintain he lacks political acumen as compared to Sonia Gandhi. The Congress president, according to them, is still the most credible face of the party. The latest developments show that it will be difficult for Sonia Gandhi to relinquish her responsibilities in the immediate future as Rahul Gandhi has a long way to go before he matures as a leader.
