The move is slated to happen in mid-2012; the reluctant leader will ease Sonia Gandhi’s workload.
It has been decided in the Congress that Rahul Gandhi will be named working president of the party. What remains is the timing as to when the new arrangement will come into effect. According to highly placed sources in the government and in the party, this could happen either before or soon after the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh early next year.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the source claimed that Sonia Gandhi will continue to remain at the helm. This would mean that senior members of the government like finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and others will confer with Rahul Gandhi on policy matters because the government needs to reflect the party’s policy and thinking.
To a question whether Rahul Gandhi, who has been perceived as a reluctant leader and that this could pave the way for his sister, Priyanka Vadra, who is seen as charismatic, to take over the reins of leadership, the source said that this was a mistaken view. The family — Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka — is a threesome and they take collective decisions, and that both Sonia and Priyanka favour Rahul to be in the front, and they would not be competing with each other.
There is the possibility that if Sonia decides not to contest the election in 2014, then Priyanka will fill in for her mother in the family seat of Rae Bareli.
The party would want Rahul to lead the party in the 2014 general elections, win a mandate and become prime minister but there is no move to replace Manmohan Singh as of now. There has been speculation that Singh could possibly be elevated as president in July when Pratibha Devisinh Patil completes her term.
According to the source this would happen only if Rahul Gandhi becomes the prime minister and leads the party in the elections.
At the moment he is reluctant to be prime minister. Therefore, Singh will be prime minister till 2014. Interestingly, Singh’s present term in the Rajya Sabha, his fourth,ends in June, 2013.
Has Rahul Gandhi attained clarity about his political views and stance, or is he still to make up his mind? The source said that he has decided to occupy what would have earlier been called the left-of-centre position but as the “left does not exist anymore”, the label would be inaccurate. He can be described as
pro-oppressed sections of society, something which he seems to have consciously adopted from his grandmother, Indira Gandhi, and which forms the natural constituency of the Congress. He is seen to be taking his position with rural India and with the poor.
The best laid plans of the Congress may, however, go wrong because of the stormy political situation prevailing in the country and which is sharply reflected in the Anna Hazare-led Jan Lokpal agitation gaining currency among large sections of urban India.
Rahul Gandhi becoming prime minister like his great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, grandmother Indira and father Rajiv may not happen in 2014. There will be a much longer wait and there is a sense of repose in the party that the transition to the future is now in place.
This contrasts with the uncertainty and simmering rivalry as to who would be prime minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress’ main rival. The BJP leaders are sure to retort that theirs is a more democratic set up compared to the Congress and the top post is not reserved for anyone.
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