Congress faces multiple rebellions: Will Rahul rise to the occasion finally?

From Assam in the east to Maharashtra in the west, multiple rebellions are threatening the Congress party even as it struggles to keep a brave face after the debilitating Lok sabha election defeat. The bigger worry though is probably that the defiance places yet another doubt on the leadership of party vice president Rahul Gandhi.

When Sonia and Rahul addressed the media when the results of the election became clear, it was the party president who assumed responsibility, never mind that the campaign was led entirely by her son. As the ranks rise up in defiance, the Congress’s habit of shielding the Gandhis and especially Rahul appears to have cost the party dearly.

“Questions about Rahul Gandhi’s leadership are always in the air. He is bit of a loner like Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He suddenly switches on for a week and switches off for two weeks. Congress is still in a state of stupor after 2014 poll results,” former editor-in-chief, Oulook, Vinod Mehta told CNN-IBN during a panel discussion.

With a paltry tally of 44 seats, Congress chief ministers are facing an uprising in key states such as Maharashtra, Haryana and Assam. Worse, both Maharashtra and Haryana are poll-bound later this year. The first shocker for the Congress came from Maharashtra when one of its key ministers Narayan Rane resigned from the Prithviraj Chavan cabinet. There was a demand for leadership change in the state which the party high command chose to ignore.

Rane on Thursday announced that he would quit the Chavan government on 21 July. The announcement came after his longstanding and strident criticism of the chief minister’s style of functioning. The former Maharashtra minister felt that he was let down by the party as he was not made the chief minister.

“I don’t want to be a partner in the defeat in the Assembly polls and that’s why I have quit. Public work was not getting done. Hence I resigned. I am unhappy with party,” he said. “I was told I will be made CM in six months. But in nine years the promise has not been kept,” Rane told Zee News .

In Assam as well, health and education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma resigned from the Tarun Gogoi government. A delegation of 31 MLAs went along with him to express their no confidence in Gogoi.

A report in The Economic Times quotes former union minister Kamal Nath as saying the rebellion is not really against Rahul but against the chief minister in Assam.

Expectedly, the party is viewing these incidents as stray incidents of indiscipline while in reality, it is about the leadership crisis at the top. In Maharashtra too, while Rane’s rebellion may be against the state leadership, the vacuum at the top and in decision-making led to his protests being ignored for months until the minister decided to up the ante. Sonia Gandhi roped in Sushilkumar Shinde to assuage Rane’s fears but by now it was too late. And Rane is not alone, says the ET report, adding that scores of Congress MLAs are in touch with the opposition parties.

“There is utter confusion among the Congress chief ministers if Rahul Gandhi is on board or not. People are meeting Sonia Gandhi more. There is a power vacuum and the dissidents may be taking advantage of that. Rahul must show that he is in command and on board. But it is too early to write the political obituary of the dynasty,” Mehta said.

Congress leader Rashmi Kant, who was on the panel, tried his best to defend his party leadership.

“All political parties go through a certain crisis. In Assam, Mallikarjun Kharge said it was an evolving situation and no leadership change was required. There is a sense of indiscipline in the party which has irked Rahul Gandhi. Was there a revolt in the BJP when the party had won two seats under Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s leadership?” Kant asked.

BJP spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh was quick to refute the comparisons and attack Rahul Gandhi and his party.

“There is rebellion in the Congress from east to west. This is happening because of the decimation that the party saw in the recent Lok Sabha polls. The Congress workers now understand that the Congress should be rid of the Gandhi family. If the dynasty remains at the top, Congress has no chance of revival. The fact that the party philosophy family can never be wrong but at best ill-informed is itself not right,” Singh said.

High time for Rahul to prove his critics wrong.