Farce Election

For the last few days, one news that has caught attention is that of the election for the Congress Party’s President post. The post of Congress party’s President is always the bane of contention because generally it is held by the member of the Gandhi family. From 1997 till now it is held by Sonia Gandhi barring a few years in between, it was held by Rahul Gandhi. He resigned from the Presidentship of the party after the debacle of the Congress party in the 2019 general election. After that Sonia Gandhi became interim President. Then there was a call from some senior congress leaders as Rahul Gandhi is reluctant to take the post of President, therefore there should be an internal election for the post of party President.

So after a lot of consultation with her favourite leaders in the Congress party, Sonia Gandhi announced the program of holding an election for the post of party President. The proper election program was announced with the last date of filing nomination, the date of the election, the requirement for filing nomination etc. From day one of the announcements of the election schedule, it became evident that the Gandhi family is looking for a leader who is loyal to the Gandhi family to become the party President. Many names were floating in the news channel, but in the end, Sonia Gandhi agreed to Ashok Gehlot (CM of Rajasthan) as her choice for this post. Now what developed after that, showed the true face of the Congress Party:

• Sonia Gandhi insisted that as per the party’s policy of one man one post, Ashok Gehlot has to step down as CM of Rajasthan.
• Ashok Gehlot realized that his beta Noire Sachin Pilot may be the choice of the party’s high command, and he never wanted that to happen.
• So when the Congress party’s observer went to Jaipur for announcing the new CM, Gehlot’s loyalist MLA started saying that the new CM should be selected by the consensus of the MLAs and not by the party high command, which indirectly meant they do not want Sachin Pilot to new CM. These MLAs even refused to meet the central observers. It looked like Sonia Gandhi wants her loyalist to be the party President, in a similar fashion, Gehlot wanted his loyalist MLA to be the new CM.
• This fiasco was not liked by Sonia Gandhi, and in the end, it so happened that Ashok Gehlot had to announce that he will not contest the party presidential election.
• Then Sonia Gandhi started filtering the names of her other loyalists, and in the end, it was decided that Mallikarjun Khadge, leader of the opposition (LOP) in the Rajya Sabha.
• In the meantime, many young congress leaders were not liking the idea of Sonia Gandhi loyalists becoming party President, and one leader Shashi Tharoor announced that he will be contesting the election for the post of party President.
• Now, after the nominations have been filed, it has become evident that there will be no walkover for M Khadge, as Shashi Tharoor’s nomination application has also been accepted by the appointed returning officer. Now Sonia loyalists are after Shashi Tharoor to withdraw his candidature.
• It looks evident that most of the congressmen who are eligible voters for this election will be showing loyalty to the Gandhi family, and it is almost certain that Mallikarjun Khadge will become Congress Party’s new President, who will be working under the remote control of Sonia Gandhi, similar to Sonia Gandhi controlling PM Manmohan Singh during UPA 1 & UPA 2.

The fact of the matter is that M Khadge is 80 years old and loyal to the Gandhi family, his thought process is going to be the same as that of the Gandhi family, and whatever change party workers are looking for a revival of the party’s fortune is not going to be there. It will be a continuity of Gandhi’s family’s policies prevailing in the working of Congress. Shashi Tharoor, in his message to eligible voters, has said that “ if you are satisfied with party’s functioning, vote for Khadge Sahib, and if you want the change, I am there”.

This election process is being reduced to Tamasha. It seems that Congress is back to square one. Mallikarju Khadge, at 80, is a proxy candidate of the Gandhi family. This was not the generational change some Congress leaders were demanding. It looks like the Indian National Congress has become a Nehru-Gandhi Family company. Now if you want to revive the party, it is important that the high command culture should end. The Congress party had a good chance to show that there is internal democracy in the party, but with the choice of Mallikarjun Khadge, it has become clear that the Gandhi family is still reluctant to leave the control of the party. With ailing Sonia Gandhi, reluctant Rahul Gandhi, and novice Priyanka Gandhi, there is no one from the Gandhi family who can save/revive the party. To me, it looks like the Congress party is going to die in the near future if things remain the same.

So, friends, we are going to watch a FARCE election.

Waiting for your view on this blog.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

3^rd October 2022