The Congress faces a Hobson’s choice in the party-ruled states of Punjab, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh where internal disquiet is coming to a boil. Punjab is poll-bound, where Assembly elections are due early February along with Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Goa.
Congress insiders say much more than the contentious issue of the party chief’s post remaining vacant since May 2019, dissident activities in the three Congress-ruled states are bothering the Gandhi trio—Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka. In fact, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has taken a lead of sorts in acting as a ‘peace maker’. In the last few days, she has called up Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, dissenter Navjot Singh Sidhu as well as Hemaram Choudhary in Rajasthan.
The word from Priyanka is to resolve the differences as a ‘family matter’. However, the three chief ministers, Amarinder Singh, Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel, are not too keen to sit down with Sidhu, Sachin Pilot and T.S. Singh Deo on the grounds that such a gesture would undermine their political authority. Sidhu has been the most strident, perhaps sensing that time is running out for him in the wake of the Punjab Assembly election in February 2022. Pilot has adopted a wait-and-watch policy, perhaps because Rajasthan Assembly polls are due in November 2023 and sustaining a rebellion or third-party option for the next two-and-a-half years would be challenging if not insurmountable.
What Congress CMs are Thinking
In Rajasthan, supporters of Sachin Pilot are losing patience in the wake of chief minister Ashok Gehlot failing to fulfil the ‘peace formula’ that was hammered out in August last year. Hemaram Choudhary, a six-time Congress MLA from the Gudamalani Assembly seat in Barmer and a Sachin Pilot supporter, had sent his resignation to the state Assembly Speaker, but the veteran leader is not pressing for its acceptance now. Always careful with words, Pilot reacted cautiously to Hemaram’s move: “Hemaram Choudhary is the senior-most MLA of the House. He has been a major contributor to Rajasthan and Congress politics. There is hardly any other example matching his simplicity, honesty and humility in the Congress. His resignation is a matter of great concern.”
However, instead of accommodating dissidents or expanding his council of ministers, the Gehlot camp is trying to wean away some Pilot supporters. Sonia Gandhi had appointed a panel consisting of Ahmed Patel, K.C. Venugopal and Ajay Maken to resolve the Rajasthan impasse. However, after Patel’s death in November last year, the panel became redundant. Maken subsequently tried according importance to Pilot but the gesture reportedly created a bigger schism between Maken and Gehlot and Pilot and Gehlot.
Chhattisgarh’s crisis is unique in the sense that it is not visible yet deep. Somehow, the state health minister Singh Deo is convinced that Baghel’s crowning in December 2018 was for two-and-a-half years and not for five full years. This is something only Rahul Gandhi, Baghel and Singh Deo seem to be privy to. Now that Rahul Gandhi is no longer officially holding the post of the AICC (All India Congress Committee) chief, there is no way that such a move can be implemented.
Interestingly, some of the Congress chief ministers favour ‘drastic’ and ‘clinical’ measures, pointing out how shortly before the Bengal polls, Mamata Banerjee displayed ‘zero tolerance’ towards dissent and showed the door to disgruntled elements instead of accommodating their ‘unwieldy’ demands.
Can Congress Leadership Plug the Gaps?
The options before Gandhis are, therefore, few. The Congress high command is alarmed by reports that some rebel leaders are drawing strength from the recent political developments. Some Congress leaders view Himanta Biswa Sarma and Suvendu Adhikari as those who found a ‘future’ after leaving their parent organizations. In fact, the more enthusiastic ones even quote the success of Mamata Banerjee, Jagan Mohan Reddy, Pema Khandu, N. Biren Singh and N. Rangaswamy, who are currently chief ministers after leaving the grand old party.
The optimism surrounding Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is on the wane now. Congressmen feel Priyanka’s attempts to act as part high command, part Ahmed Patel-Motilal Vora is proving ineffective. There is a question mark surrounding her role in Uttar Pradesh where the grand old party continues to be short of organisational network, credible leaders and resources. There is a Nigerian proverb that says, “When the mouse laughs at the cat, there’s a hole nearby.” In Priyanka’s Lok Sabha 2019 efforts in UP, there was no hole nearby, making her ‘mission Uttar Pradesh’ a disaster. Her campaign for February 2022 has so far been a non-starter.
Congress has a history of the Nehru-Gandhis acting in “pairs”. Priyanka would gain credibility and strength if Rahul Gandhi musters up the courage to return as the 87th president of the AICC or hold free and fair party polls to elect a new party chief and a new Congress Working Committee. Most AICC general secretaries and Congress Working Committee members are considered lightweights who are either too reverential or accommodating towards chief ministers, PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) chiefs and CLP (Congress Legislative Party) leaders instead of acting as arbitrators. Till then, dissident activities would continue unabated.
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