'Team Rahul’ on self-defence overdrive as survey predicts route in October state polls

NEW DELHI: An internal feedback, predicting serial electoral routs in the October assembly elections to Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand has sent the so-called ‘Team Rahul’ on a self-defence overdrive, packaged as a mission to ‘shield Rahulji from critics’.
As this team enacted a ‘conspiracy phobia’ in party circles, the AICC spokesperson on Wednesday felt compelled to assert at a press conference that “Rahulji will be our leader and we will come back to power under his leadership”. This ‘protect-Rahul Gandhi’ move began when a group of around a dozen AICC secretaries he nominated started holding meetings, a fortnight ago, after a whisper campaign that Rahul loyalists feared their leader ‘was facing an internal conspiracy from many senior leaders’, especially after Congress notched its worst electoral rout in the Lok Sabha polls.

According to this buzz, any senior leader who sought an active role for Priyanka Gandhi, or those who wanted a review of the leadership’s style of functioning, was either an opponent or critic of Rahul Gandhi’s leadership or a rebel.

AICC secretariescum-Team Rahul members Jitendra Singh, Harish Chwodhury, Manicka Tagore are mentioned as members of the ‘shield-Rahul’ movement. AICC general secretaries CP Joshi and Madhusudhan Mistry are supposed backers of the move. Incidentally, all of them lost the Lok Sabha polls. Certain personal aides of Rahul Gandhi to are involved.

When contacted by ET, an AICC secretary handpicked by Rahul, Shubhankar Sarkar, said, “Congress is the shock-absorber of society. It is the time to strengthen the Congress ideology and Rahulji’s philosophy. The party and leaders must speak in one voice. Therefore, I appeal to all leaders, both senior and junior leaders, not to break the lakshman rekha and force others to do the same.”

The ‘Young Turks’ emergence coincides with prediction of the party’s commissioned surveys for Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand predicting Congress would fare badly in the assembly polls. Some senior leaders feel ‘Rahul loyalists’ were indulging in tactics to protect their positions. These youngsters are egging on Gandhi to purge the party of veterans and fill AICC with them.

“Given the weakened position of Congress, internal unity is paramount at the moment. But it would depend on whether Soniaji opts for the party’s larger interest or that of Rahulji’s team”, said a senior Congress functionary. A source said some of Rahul’s hand-picked secretaries are readying a joint letter to AICC general secretaries to convey their feelings. They have also been spreading the word that they would, henceforth, counter senior leaders if the latter utter anything critical of Gandhi’s style.