Randeep Singh Surjewala said that Rahul was travelling to be with his mother, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who is there for a medical check-up
After remaining incommunicado to his own party leaders for about crucial 48 hours that led to the slipping of Manipur and Goa — where the party had tantalisingly come close to power — from the party’s net, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday flew abroad to join his ailing mother.
Amidst dissensions within the party over the crushing poll defeat, coupled with mismanagement in Manipur and Goa, the party’s chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala announced Rahul’s travel abroad to bring Sonia back. Surjewala said that Rahul was travelling to be with his mother, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who is there for a medical check-up. He did not disclose the place where Sonia has gone for the check-up, nor stated her ailment.
On Thursday, the Congress leaders also began talking about the need for a grand alliance, conceding that their party alone cannot fight Narendra Modi. Paradoxically, when Rahul was quite reluctant in patching up an alliance with the Samajwadi Party, Congress general secretary CP Joshi, who is close to Rahul, sought to project him as a coalition maker, citing how he had sewed up alliances in Bihar, West Bengal and UP.
Another party leader Mani Shankar Aiyar was more forthcoming saying the party has lost touch with masses. He said the Congress fighting it all alone has brought not only its own crushing defeat, but that of its erstwhile partners as well, making a case for a grand alliance ahead of 2019 general elections. He even questioned the party for not learning lessons after defeats, pointing out that a series of ‘introspection’ reports — going all the way back to the late 1980s to the AK Antony committee report of 2014 — are gathering dust at the AICC headquarters.
With Rahul now abroad, and left in the woods, party leaders are now awaiting Mrs Gandhi to return for the next move. They say that since Sonia had left the decision-making in her absence to Rahul, he should not have stayed back, especially at a time of growing criticism over his handling of the elections. They also point out that the failure to form its governments in Goa and Manipur was telling on the ability of the party high command.
They also expect Mrs Gandhi to once again take a lead to sew up a grand alliance in order to squeeze space for the BJP in 2019 general election. They said the party was looking for formidable alliances in each and every state. Asked if he was still conceding that the Congress cannot fight Modi alone, CP Joshi quipped: “That’s a fact. The narrative has changed post-2014. The Congress is preparing to face new challenges. The main question is how to stop the BJP. New alliances like Bihar, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh will be made. We will seriously work towards achieving that objective.”
A confidante of Rahul, Joshi’s remarks are seen by party sources as a strategy that Rahul may have firmed up since the poll drubbing last Saturday. Senior party leaders, however, frowned at Joshi’s contention, wondering whether he had the mandate to take the line. They even accused him of causing an irreparable damage to Rahul’s leadership as it betrayed nothing but surrender and nervousness of the Congress leadership.
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