Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi are desperately trying to give a new look to the ministry and the party set-up.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi are desperately trying to give a new look to the ministry and the party set-up.
But there will hardly be any action for the next 15 days, considered inauspicious in the Hindu calendar. This gap will, however, provide Singh and Gandhi with the time to find a path that would usher aggressive but not abrasive changes.
After Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh set a September deadline for Rahul Gandhi to “assume a more important role” and Gandhi said he was ready for it, there’s no reason to delay the exercise.
“But the party top brass fears the unknown... What will happen once Rahul Gandhi takes over,” a party functionary said. “It would have been simple if he agreed to a ministerial berth. But now it might turn into a matter of survival for others as the new order sets in.
The exercise becomes more complicated because no one has any clue about his style of functioning.”
Another senior leader said many in the party are survivors and they are adept at changing their tunes to suit the need of the hour.
If Sonia Gandhi were to handle the organisational reshuffle, she would have a tough job because of the tantrums and demands of allies. That apart there is a dearth of talent among the current crop of MPs, the leader said.
There is hardly anyone with administrative experience to fill up the vacancies created by the departure of veterans like Pranab Mukherjee or Vilasrao Deshmukh, he said. Sushilkumar Shinde’s lacklustre performance as leader of the party in the Lok Sabha is a case in point.
Matters at the state level too are a cause for concern. “The party is on a downslide in strongholds like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. It does not h ruled Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Gujarat, where it is almost resigned to a defeat,” the functionary said.
“The problem once again is the absence of credible popular leaders,” said another functionary. “Now the question is will there be a major overhaul or just cosmetic changes? And it is this dilemma that has also contributed to the delay.”
Also, there are questions aboutRahul Gandhi. Has the Uttar Pradesh debacle made him a better politician? The Congress is still searching for answers.
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