Feeling somewhat besieged and under attack from all quarters, the Congress has begun to close ranks and even counterattack. For the past few months the UPA coalition and its biggest constituent, the Congress, have been facing allegations of corruption, inefficiency and policy drift. The various scams,

allegedly involving senior party leaders and allies, came one after another, leaving barely any time for the leadership to react. Not merely political rivals but civil society groups, too, joined the anti-government fray, shaking its very foundations. Just when unity was the need of the hour, reports began surfacing about internal strife within the upper echelons of the party and the government, between two very senior ministers, Mr Pranab Mukherjee and Mr P. Chidambaram. This is just the kind of trouble the Congress does not need right now.
Not surprisingly, therefore, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who was away for a while, has now let it be known that not only will the party stand united behind Mr Chidambaram, but that a strategy will be worked out to ensure no further damage is caused by persistent Opposition attacks. The thinking behind this seems clear — if this is allowed to go on undefended, or if the party appears weak, the next target will be the Prime Minister. That could prove disastrous. Hence the need for some tactical thinking at the earliest.
Mrs Gandhi will be aware that the Congress has lost a lot of political capital in recent times. In its second avatar the UPA has not been able to project a picture of a government that has a clear set of policies and direction. It seemed lost in the face of the incessant pressure mounted by Anna Hazare and his cohorts, who got the support of thousands of followers from the urban middle-class, the same constituency that was fully supportive of Dr Singh and his team during the 2009 elections. Thus, there is a lot of momentum to be regained if the Congress and its allies want to go into the next elections, still over two years away, with any measure of confidence.
The Opposition parties, mainly the BJP, appear to be brimming with self-belief and seem convinced that this disarray within the Congress will yield political dividends in the elections. At this stage it is too premature to draw any such conclusion. On several occasions the BJP had everything going for it as the UPA made a series of blunders but yet failed to capitalise on the situation; its own house is in disarray. But this is small comfort to the Congress, which has to get its act together and make sure the government starts humming again and addresses the major issues facing the nation.