New Delhi: Everything seems to be going wrong with the Congress these days. After the most humiliating defeat at the hands of Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha election and debacle in the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections, internal fighting is escalating in the grand old party which ruled the nation till last May.
There are chances of internal fighting leading to a full blown revolt in the coming days. A few leaders are openly questioning the style of functioning of the High Command now being controlled by the party vice president Rahul Gandhi.
Some senior leaders of the party who are extremely unhappy with the impractical way Rahul Gandhi is handing the party affairs have started speaking out against the leadership. After a top leader P Chidambaram openly hinted that a non-Gandhi could become party president, his son Karti Chidambaram has also joined the debate saying that the party lacks internal democracy.
It is a known fact that Chidambaram is not happy with the state of affairs within the party. Non participation of him at the recently held 125th birth anniversary of the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru has also set the tongues wagging. The party, however, had later denied the reports that he was not invited to the event.
Another leader of the Congress from Tamil Nadu GK Vasan was the first to raise a banner of revolt. Vasan, a former Union minister of Shipping quit the party in disgust to revive his late father GK Moopanar's party Tamil Manila Congress (TMC) in the state.
After the debacle in Maharashtra and Haryana, several leaders of the party have gone either totally silent or planning to quit. Some of them are already in touch with the leaders of other political parties to save their career.
The Congress' efforts to bring all non-BJP political parties together at the Nehru event also failed after leaders like Mamata Banerjee felt insulted by the Congress. An angry leader of a regional party said, "Congress will never learn anything. With 44 MPs and half a dozen states in hand, it still behaves like an emperor. Under the current high command controlled by Rahul Gandhi, there is no future."
The Congress is in power in nine states across India. Except Karnataka, all other Congress held states are small and politically insignificant. It has lost a large state Maharashtra to the BJP recently. Another 'cash' cow Haryana has also gone to the BJP.
In Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand, where the Congress is in coalition with the local parties, situation is not looking favourable in the ongoing assembly polls. According to ground reports, the party is likely to lose both the states when the votes are counted on December 23.
The party is dead in Andhra Pradesh and struggling to regroup in Telangana. It is in a very bad shape in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
Congress is the main opposition party in Gujarat, MP, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Orissa. But, it is not showing any signs of recovery.
Even in Karnataka, the only major state where the party is in power, Congress is facing angry party workers. The chief minister Siddaramaiah has failed to deliver good governance and to keep the workers happy.
Majority in the party agree that a small coterie around Rahul Gandhi is ruining the party completely. They argue that these people have no knowledge of grassroots level politics and they are ill treating the real workers and the local leaders of the party.
The clamour for Priyanka Gandhi is also growing. But, most political analysts feel that even Priyanka Gandhi can't revive the sinking party. They argue that the party should look beyond the Gandhis for its survival. However family loyalists, who got power because of their proximity to the Gandhis rubbish any such idea. Even a statement like "Gandhis are the biggest strength and weakness of the Congress" sounds like a cliché these days.
The Congress may recover in future. But, undoubtedly it is facing the worst crisis in its history. The current situation can't be compared to 1977 and 1996 crisis of the Congress. The situation is grave and entirely different. Escalating internal fighting in the Congress, can lead to a full-blown revolt soon.
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