- Going by the look of things, the envisaged plans of the Grand Old Party’s presidentship under the tutelage of the Gandhi’s have not gone ahead on expected lines of late. Ever since the Gandhi scion resigned following the ignominious drubbing in the 2019 general elections, efforts to lead Congress by undertaking organizational elections could not take any concrete shape despite the Gandhi family’s half-baked thrust in this direction. Now that the internal elections to choose president is underway, the plans of the Gandhi family to have a loyalist don the role appear to have met with a setback. As you are aware, Rajul Gandhi had vehemently ruled out the possibility of any Gandhi family member taking over the reins of the party.
PC: HT Correspondent
- To ensure control over the party, it was obvious that the Gandhi family would make every effort at having a family loyalist at the helm. However, those plans are under severe strain going by the unfolding events over the last few days. At the start of a crucial week in which candidates for Congress’s presidential elections were to join the race, the script has gone haywire for the GOP. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, widely touted as the Gandhis’ proxy candidate, engineered a rebellion, a wily fox’s response to the family’s desire to replace Gehlot with his betenoire Sachin Pilot. Mind you, the Gandhi’s have faced embarrassment of late from multiple directions, but none this bad. It proves their hold over the party is slowly getting eroded.
- It’s not just a loss of face, it’s a stark reminder that strong state leaders can now try and dictate terms to the family and, most of all, that Gandhi’s can be seemingly truly out-of-touch with political realities. In hindsight, Gehlot’s reaction to Pilot becoming Rajasthan CM should surely have been anticipated by Gandhi’s. Yes, the family is intending to keep a promise made to Pilot that his turn for the CMship will come after he was outmanoeuvred by Gehlot in 2018. However, Pilot’s impatience, which led to his reckless rebellion in 2020, perhaps influenced by Jyotiraditya Scindia’s success in pulling down the Kamal Nath government in MP, has extracted a huge and justified reputational cost.
PC: Arvind Jain
- No wonder, many in Congress believe he doesn’t deserve an honorable accommodation so soon after wanting to break a Congress government. Moreover, Gehlot’s preeminent position in the Rajasthan Congress and his desire to take up the president’s post on his own terms should have prompted the weakened Gandhi family to yield. Make no mistake, the Gandhi’s enjoy very little clout and as such, their utility is in preventing the party from disintegrating faster. In that sense, Gehlot has called the bluff. With Gehlot outmanoeuving Gandhi’s, other loyalists may throw their hats into the ring. The family surely has a lot on their platter to worry about. Trust me, the BJP would be delighted with the turn of events that perfectly suits their plans going ahead.
