AWhat is the future of the Congress in national politics? Only two states, which could lose power at any moment due to the conflict, have no top leaders to lead the party or explain party affairs. For those who have, there is no significant silence. If the Congress was once a coalition of powerful local leaders, today they have all joined the BJP. As such, the Congress is out of power in Punjab, even in front of the newly formed Aam Aadmi Party.
In the middle of last year, the Cold War between then-Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, who defected from the BJP to the Congress only five years ago, reached a climax. But Rahul Gandhi refused to meet Sidhu, who had been staying in Delhi for days demanding a change of captain. Meanwhile, rumors spread that Sidhu had a meeting with ‘Gandhis’. But Rahul himself made it clear that he had no knowledge of such a meeting.
This is because the captain returned without meeting party president Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi shortly before he appeared before a committee appointed by the High Command to look into the issue in Punjab. A meeting with the captain or not with Sidhu? The next day, Sidhu shocked everyone by posting a picture of himself with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Twitter. Sidhu was appointed state Congress president next month.
Two months later, the Captain resigned, citing persistent neglect and humiliation from the High Command. The Congress had also decided to change the captain in the hope that he would face a brighter election. Captain is a childhood friend of Rajiv Gandhi and has been involved in electoral politics as part of the Congress since 1980. Bluestar is one of the few remaining powerful local leaders in the party who has left Congress for some time in the name of Operation. The man who led the Congress to power in 2017 by leading a single battle against the Akali-BJP alliance, despite having so many adjectives, the anti-people sentiment was slowly rising. Along with this, Sidhu’s military readiness.
Captain BJP took refuge in Lavanam, leaving not only the post of Chief Minister but also the membership of the Congress. When the captain left, the crucial Jats and Sikhs in Punjab also left the Congress. They also lined up behind Bhagwant Mann of the Aam Aadmi Party, another Jat community. After UP, Punjab has the highest number of Dalits in the country. Attempts by the Dalit community to retain power by appointing Charanjit Singh Channi as Chief Minister were thwarted by the Congress. Observers attribute the collapse of Punjab mainly to the incompetence and lack of interest of the national leadership.
The closest example is Punjab, where the BJP had earlier ruled alone in Madhya Pradesh and in Karnataka with the Janata Dal-AC. The Congress has also seen the BJP seize power in Goa and Manipur as spectators with more seats. After Maharashtra and Jharkhand, which are ruled by allies, the Congress rules Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh alone.
ും Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh
The two states are prone to power struggles and mutual animosity between different sections of the party. In Rajasthan, the problems between Chief Minister Ashok Gellot and former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot have been temporarily contained following the High Command’s constant compromises. But everyone knows that this peace is not permanent. Even when the pilot says he deserves the CM post, the High Command is convinced that the current situation in Punjab will be the same as in Rajasthan if Gellot is embroiled in controversy.
All the others in the ‘Rahul Brigade’ who started politics with the pilot went to the BJP camp. Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitin Prasada are the latest to join RPN. When Singh joined the BJP, Sushmita Dev and Lucinho Feloro joined the Trinamool Congress. Ashwini Kumar, a former Union minister from Punjab, left the party just before the state elections, shocking the Congress leadership. According to Congress sources, the pilot had raised the riot flag earlier but did not go for the blast on the personal assurances of Rahul and Priyanka.
The situation is similar in Chhattisgarh. The power struggle between Chief Minister Bhupesh Bagal and senior leader TS Singh Dio, who is also the state health minister, is fierce. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. The dispute reached Delhi several times. There has never been lasting peace.
– G-23 to be dismantled
The 23 leading leaders had written to party president Sonia Gandhi demanding a radical overhaul of the Congress, holding organizational elections from the top and having a permanent chairperson or chairperson of the party. The group, which includes Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal and Shashi Tharoor, has been in the limelight ever since. In response to the criticism, Kapil Sibal had recently said that they had not asked for anything wrong and that the party needed a mechanism to move it forward.
Criticism is widespread that the collapse of Punjab and the failure to land in UP are evidence that not only the Group 23 leaders but also the general public are beginning to doubt the effectiveness of the central leadership. Rahul has said that he respects the election result and will look into where it went wrong. Congress workers are hoping for change.
English Summary: Issues, Crisis and future of Congress Party