Tussle within Cong rekindles old versus new debate

KV Prasad

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 2

Over the past few weeks, the Congress is witnessing an internal churn. The tussle took a turn at a recent virtual meeting called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi with members of the Rajya Sabha, the House where it still remains the main Opposition party.

The ostensible reason for the verbal duel was the attack by young Congress MP Rajiv Satav, who sought to join issue with seniors in the party and apportioning blame on the performance of UPA-2 that saw Congress plummeting to only 44 seats in the 16th Lok Sabha. 

The candid exchange reflected the larger problem in the Congress that it could not find a president besides being unable to clear the accumulated ideological cobwebs for the past six years.

Ever since Rahul walked away from top party post two years ago and Sonia Gandhi stepped in to take charge as its interim president, barring intermittent voices to bring Rahul back as the president, there appears to be no major movement. It would be simplistic to look at the tussle purely from the prism of old versus new.

Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi need to work with other leaders to anoint a new president, as was done by former party chief PV Narasimha Rao when he handed over the baton to Sitaram Kesri, building consensus among members of the working committee. Otherwise, a large majority of party workers might not accept any new arrangement.

The new leader could then formalise how to rejuvenate the party and decide where would the party head from here to challenge the BJP, which is now the most powerful political outfit in the country.

That the party is not exactly in a moribund state can be inferred from the manner in which leaders in various states have taken the pole position. Until it gets a leader who has acceptability across the country, the Congress should benefit from regional leaders who demonstrated political grit and determination to remain relevant in states.