The 100-day performance of the Modi government has been widely evaluated. dna takes a look at how the largest opposition party, Congress, fared in the same period
The Congress is in the doldrums. And the results of the bypolls in Uttarakhand, Bihar and Karnataka could do little to cheer up the party rank and file.
But party leaders are happy with the way they conducted themselves in the opposition benches for the past 100 days. They say the Congress allowed a smooth and productive Parliament session unlike the BJP's disruptive ways when the UPA II was in power.
But despite being the largest opposition group, the party failed to muster a floor management with other parties, be that the AIADMK, the TMC, or the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) to coordinate actions against the government.
Even on the passage of an ordinance to confirm PM Narendra Modi's principal secretary Nipendra Mishra, the treasury benches had the last laugh. Though the Congress had enough numbers to block it in the Rajya Sabha, other parties didn't cooperate.
In the Lok Sabha, where speaker Sumitra Mahajan is still to allot division numbers, the TMC and the AIADMK don't want to sit alongside Congress leaders lest the message gets conveyed back home that they are allies of the largest opposition group. In the last Parliament session, the party's single point agenda was to secure the leader of opposition post, which it could not get.
But Congress leaders privately admit that their vice-president Rahul Gandhi's leadership deficiencies were proving to be a major handicap. Only time he was seen leading the party was when he led them to the well of the House and forced a debate on communal riots in the country.
But ironically, he didn't participate in the discussions. The uneasiness against Rahul could be seen with the public statements of senior Congress leaders Digvijay Singh and Janardan Dwivedi, who were later snubbed by the Congress spokesperson officially. Singh had remarked that Rahul Gandhi's silence on critical issues had contributed to their loss in the "war of perception". He had said the party vice-president should be "more visible and heard more" to bring the Congress back on the path of revival.
Even Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan said Rahul Gandhi's reluctance to join the Union cabinet cost the party.
Over the past 100 days, the division between the young and the older generation has sharpened to the extent of endangering the party's fortunes.
The AK Antony committee, set up by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, to find out and analyse the reasons for the party's defeat has also disappointed the party ranks. Those who have seen contents of the report say it lacks guidance. The report has blamed everybody and everything except the Gandhis who were leading the campaign. It has also mentioned an overemphasis on minorities riled the Hindus, who distanced themselves from the party. The report, said to be in three parts, and meant only for Sonia's eyes, says the "reasons for the defeat were something else" but without going into details. Having found no fault with the leadership, Antony stressed that the party's revival would be under the Congress president and vice-president.
"Even though now we are passing through a difficult period and it will take some time, we are confident of revival. Just as in 1977, we will be able to regain the lost ground, we will be able to strengthen our party, strengthen our mass base under the leadership of Sonia and Rahul," he said.
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