There is the possibility of a new, lifetime position being created for Sonia Gandhi in the party through a resolution in the next AICC session.
Now that Rahul Gandhi is slated to take the reins of the Grand Old Congress Party on 16 December, what will the role of outgoing party president Sonia Gandhi be? Will she continue to play a role in the party, or will she fade away quietly? Will she be the queen, the queen-mother or just Rahul’s mother? These are the questions that are being asked in political circles. Ask any Sonia loyalist (the old guard) and the prompt counter is: “Do you think that she will severe her connection with a party that she had presided over for a record 19 years in a jiffy?”
Insiders say the script for Rahul’s succession was written five years ago. In 2013, when Sonia turned 67, she told her confidants that she would like to call it a day when she turned 70. But political exigencies delayed it by a year and she has now handed over the baton a week after her 71st birthday.
Although Rahul might take over formally next week, he has been functioning as the de-facto party chief for a little over a year. Sonia had taken a back seat after her health deteriorated, allowing her son to take all crucial decisions on ticket distribution in assembly polls, the appointment of office bearers or even alliances. She stayed away from the assembly poll campaign in Uttar Pradesh, and the recent ones in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Even though she was staying with her daughter Priyanka in Shimla last month, she did not participate in the campaign. Though she meets a few party leaders now and then, she completely stopped party work over the past four months.
Sonia, known as ‘Rajiv’s girl’ in the 1970s, has bowed out after a record 19 years of leading the party. She has had a roller-coaster ride in her political life since 1998, when she stepped in to check the erosion in the party. She converted her handicap into an advantage by presenting a carefully cultivated image of an enigma.
She took up the challenge when the party was in the opposition, and the BJP was riding high. She was diffident, conscious of her foreign origin, spoke less and listened more, grew on the job, and overcame many other hurdles to reach where she is today. She was able to cobble together the United Progressive Alliance coalition, which ruled from 2004 to 2014. She was the first woman leader of opposition.
On the flip side, Sonia neglected the organisation and ruled the country as a power behind the throne. She promoted her son Rahul, did not allow second rung leaders to grow, did not indulge in grassroots politics, and lost the 2014 elections miserably to a Modi-led BJP. She has watched helplessly as the party lost state after state since 2014, and now rules in just six states.
Now that there is a regime change, what role will Sonia play in the party and national politics? Will she be a back-bencher in Parliament? Will she give up electoral politics and move to the Rajya Sabha?
Many say that she will keep herself away from the day-to-day functioning of the party, but leaders want her to mentor the party and Rahul. Senior Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily recently asserted that her role in the party would remain “undiminished” and she will continue to guide it.
A Congress Working Committee member even said there is a possibility of the creation of a new, lifetime position for her by way of a resolution in the next AICC session. Others want her to continue as the chairman of the Congress Parliamentary Party, and the chairperson of the UPA, because regional chieftains would pay heed to her if she were to take up the role of a trouble-shooter. Senior leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar or Lalu Prasad Yadav might not like to work under Rahul’s leadership, but they have no hesitation in accepting Sonia. CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechuri had bluntly stated in a recent television interview that “Sonia is the glue that binds the opposition”, adding that “the united opposition will break if Rahul takes over.”
If she is going to be all these, then what would Rahul’s role be? The chorus from the party is that he will build the organisation. So it all depends on the political situation, and Sonia’s health. The party certainly does not want to let go of Sonia without establishing Rahul, but has no clue about what the family is planning. It has been Sonia’s goal for long to anoint her son as the party chief, and she has just accomplished this.
Kalyani Shankar is a columnist, the former Political Editor of the Hindustan Times and former Washington correspondent of the Hindustan Times.
She is the first among equals in Lutyens’ Delhi. Her stealthy influence is such that media do not dare to hold debates on Rae Bareli and Amethi model. Amazing!!!