The party is the biggest loser in the ongoing tussle at the top

Where is Rahul Gandhi? As the Congress juggles with the million-rupee question and Sonia Gandhi shores up an increasingly demoralised party desperately seeking direction, the fate of the Grand Old Party itself seems to be at stake. "Zabardast dilemma hai (There is a huge dilemma), because of confusion at the top," said a Congressman in the Rajya Sabha.

Put simply, Sonia is said to very much want to hand over the party to her son, but is uncertain he will be able to carry along all those senior Congressmen who were once such close comrades of her husband, Rajiv, and even her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi. This so-called "old guard" that Rahul wants to shed consists of people such as General Secretary in charge of the organisation Janardan Dwivedi, Treasurer Motilal Vora and Sonia's political secretary Ahmed Patel.

Rahul is believed to have made it known to his mother that he is not willing to take over unless she lets go completely and he gets a free hand in the refurbishment of the 129-year-old organisation.

In this ongoing drama between mother and son, the rest of the party seems to have willed itself into a suspension of disbelief. All the grumbling is done behind closed doors and sotto voce. Grown men and women fervently hope the denouement doesn't further damage the party to the advantage of the BJP. Still, what could get worse than 44 seats in Parliament? Sonia continues to grapple with that question. Perhaps her son's anointment will take some time.

And yet, despite his absence, Rahul aide and party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala announced a massive list of 67 spokespersons on March 24, leading Congressmen to furiously speculate that Rahul's crowning was round the corner. Why else would Sonia Gandhi clear such a massive list, one-and-a-half times the strength of her party in the Lok Sabha?

Apart from his sister Priyanka, who is an increasingly influential adviser, several Congressmen fear that Rahul is "surrounded by a lot of NGO-type people (who) don't give him very good advice". Rahul's core group is said to include party General Secretary Madhusudan Mistry, who contested from Vadodara against Narendra Modi and lost his deposit, Sanjay Nirupam, who lost his 2014 election by more than 400,000 votes, Raj Babbar, who lost his election but has been made Rajya Sabha MP, and General Secretaries Mohan Prakash, C.P. Joshi and P.L. Punia. "Rahul is fascinated by losers," said a Congressman bitterly.

The following story is told about Mistry, who was hugely influential in the distribution of about 300-odd party tickets in the Lok Sabha elections, of which 23 people won their seats. Of the 205 former MPs in the previous Lok Sabha whose tickets were repeated, 21 retained their seats. Mistry is reported to have told a fellow Congressman that "Rahul and his team cannot be blamed for the 2014 debacle because both groups in the Congress won an equivalent number of seats".

But even Rahul's worst critics admit that the heir apparent, despite his shyness, "means well and has a sense of clarity and vision for the Congress party".

Meanwhile, Sonia is said to have persuaded her son not to insist on elections in the Congress Working Committee, the highest decision-making body in the party, in the wake of the disastrous outcomes of last year's elections to the Youth Congress and the Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India.

An opposition MP in the Lok Sabha pointed out that even if Rahul took over, "he will have to struggle to find the party's USP in the age of Modi". The MP added that regional parties, which have filled the vacuum the Congress left behind as it lost power in state after state, will not be willing to accommodate it. "In the absence of a clearly defined message, Rahul Gandhi will continue to be seen to be lacking in depth and conviction. The fact that he is being effectively asked to preside over a declining party is enough to unnerve the guy," the opposition MP said, adding, "It must definitely hurt to be the butt of jokes on social media".

Still, one senior Congressman said he believed Rahul's current leave of absence was definitely the last. But what if it isn't? What if he took off again? The Congressman stood up and brushed the imaginary dust off his impeccably clean khadi kurta. The interview was over.

Follow the writer on Twitter @jomalhotra

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