AICC spokesperson Sushmita Dev, replying to questions on Wednesday on speculation about Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s imminent elevation and the possibility of his sister, Ms Priyanka Gandhi,
AICC spokesperson Sushmita Dev, replying to questions on Wednesday on speculation about Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s imminent elevation and the possibility of his sister, Ms Priyanka Gandhi, becoming active in Uttar Pradesh where Assembly polls are scheduled next year, Ms Dev said: “Speculation is the privilege of the media.”
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh, facing a tough challenge from the AAP and the ruling SAD-BJP combine, said the time was right for Mr Gandhi to take over from his mother. He also favoured the idea of Ms Priyanka Gandhi entering active politics, leading many to believe he is suggesting three power centres in the Congress. “Sonia Gandhi is a brilliant leader. I have said that she has been working (as Congress president) for the last 20 years. If she feels the time has come to give it to a new generation, then she should pass it on and we will fully support Rahul,” Capt. Amarinder Singh said.
While Mr Gandhi’s followers have become impatient for a change of guard, they worry about how the Congress will face challenges from the BJP and the regional parties because “Team Rahul” has failed to win elections in Delhi, Assam, Kerala, Maharashtra and Haryana, and is unsure about delivering in the upcoming electoral battles in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Goa.
“Power is our ideology, and if the leadership does not give this then it faces the music (revolt),” insiders said, drawing attention to how the leadership (Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi) had faced this challenge after defeats in 1967 (1969’s split), 1977 and 1999.
Party insiders said Mr Rahul Gandhi alone has to decide the timing of his elevation. They feel he has to change his style of functioning, his office should be open to party workers, and he should be a good and patient listener, like his mother Sonia Gandhi whose UPA experiment had brought the party to power for 10 years.
There is talk of a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, the highest decision-making body of the party, being called this month, and whether its agenda will be to elect Mr Gandhi as the Congress president or discuss threadbare the situation caused by the party’s debacles in Assembly elections in four states. A “chintan shivir (brainstorming meet) is also being talked about.
Mr Gandhi was made party vice-president in January 2013 at the Jaipur “chintan shivir” and Mrs Gandhi has helmed the party since March 1998.
