Congress may defer organisational polls

Apprehending that the party may not do too well in the Assembly elections in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the Congress high command has virtually made up its mind to defer the organisational polls slated for August third week. The decision has not been officially communicated but there are indications that the Gandhis are worried that if Rahul were once again to be appointed the party president, the entire blame for the possible defeats would be put on him. Sonia Gandhi has apparently expressed the opinion that Rahul should not predicate his future on the two Assembly polls, but if he was to take over after the results in these two states were declared, that would be the appropriate timing since the Congress was expected to perform better in Karnataka. The contrary view is that the outcome of the Assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal was of no consequence because even if the party is defeated, the responsibility would be that of the Gandhis.
The rethink on the organisational polls has been triggered by a survey conducted by the party in the two states. The findings are that in Gujarat, the Congress performance would be its worst ever and the BJP was likely to score its biggest victory there. Even the Aam Aadmi Party vote share there would be almost at par with the Congress.
In Himachal Pradesh, the Congress would perform much better but may not be able to return to power. Sources in the party said that many of the ticket aspirants wanted Priyanka to campaign for them while there has been no such demand for Rahul Gandhi.
There is utter confusion following the culmination of the Chintan Shivir, which has been overshadowed by the events that have taken place in its aftermath. While the Shivir was on, Sunil Jakhar, who had earlier announced his retirement from active politics, joined the BJP. Shortly after that Hardik Patel and Kapil Sibal too left the Congress. While Kapil has maintained that he would now be an independent voice within the Rajya Sabha, his leaving could have been stopped, had the Congress leadership accepted the proposal of an opposition party to help him win the seat from Jharkhand. Hardik is likely to head towards the AAP if the political buzz is to be believed.
It had been earlier planned that after the Chintan Shivir, there would be a build-up for Rahul Gandhi where some leaders would start proposing his name in order to create an atmosphere conducive to his elevation as the party president. Now the fear is that once the Rajya Sabha seats are decided, those who are denied may join the chorus against the Gandhis.
There has been a lot of concern regarding Rahul’s frequent trips abroad and that too at a time when something important is happening nationally. In the first five months of 2022, Rahul has already been out of the country four times. A TV channel, which had planned a story on this was requested by a senior Congress functionary to abort it since it had “security implications” for the protectee. The channel reluctantly complied with the request.
So far as Priyanka is concerned, people close to her want her to be in Rajya Sabha. She has been unable to visit Uttar Pradesh, even though her trips were planned twice and then cancelled. Instead, she had gone with her family on a holiday to Los Angeles. There is rampant infighting in the UP unit and a new state president is likely to be appointed shortly. It is being said that Priyanka had wanted to speak frantically with Akhilesh Yadav, but he has so far not responded to her calls. The Gandhis are worried that both in Rae Bareli and Amethi, the Samajwadi Party, has two MLAs each, and thus these two could not be considered safe Lok Sabha seats for the family any longer. Akhilesh is upset with the Gandhis and is understood to have told his supporters that he would not allow them to win this time.
There are reports about a virtual face-off the Karnataka PCC president, D.K. Shiva Kumar had with Rahul Gandhi. DK has accused the Gandhis of supporting Siddaramaiah, the Leader of Opposition. Knowing that the Gandhis were vulnerable at this point of time, he wants to be declared as the CM face on the ground, that when he was going to finance the entire elections, why should anybody else be projected for that position? In a recent interview to a TV channel, he indicated that he would be the face of the party, something which has not gone well with the leadership.
But the most worrisome news for the Gandhis could be from Gujarat, where some of the loyalists of the late Ahmed Patel, Sonia Gandhi’s key aide, are now planning to revolt in case the high command ignores their demands. Paresh Dhanani, CLP leader from Amreli and a prominent Patel face, is understood to have met Sonia Gandhi recently and raised some vital matters. In the 40-minute interaction, he is believed to have requested the CP not to induct Naresh Patel, an influential businessman in the party as its Rajya Sabha nominee from Rajasthan.
Sources said that if Patel joins the Congress, many of Ahmed Patel’s followers including ten sitting MLAs and five former MLAs may decide their future course of action after a meeting at Ahmed Patel’s residence sometime in June. They, including AP’s son, Faisal could head towards AAP. Between us.