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Ahead of first Congress plenary under Rahul Gandhi, old guard has already won the battle

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Rahul seems to have compromised and hinted that the new team would consist of a blend of experienced senior leaders and youth with vitality and dynamism.

Will the three-day Congress plenary session scheduled from 16-18 March in the capital throw up any surprises? The plenary will endorse the election of Rahul Gandhi as the new party chief.

Being held after a gap of seven years, the plenary is a big gathering of Congress leaders from all over the country, which looks back and also ahead to issues faced by the party and the nation.

Sonia Gandhi formally handed over the baton of the 132-year-old party to her son Rahul on 16 December 2017. The young Gandhi represents the fifth generation of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and sixth member of the family to become party chief. The family has ruled the Congress for 45 years, with Sonia serving a record 19 years (1998-2017).

The party is waiting to see how Rahul spells out his vision and roadmap to challenge the BJP. He is faced with the tough challenges of strengthening the organisation, re-establishing the party’s credibility, and reversing its flagging electoral fortunes.

Speaking to the Indian diaspora in Bahrain recently, he has promised to deliver a “shining new Congress party” in the next six months. So, how new and shiny will Rahul’s Congress be? Will it be a departure from the Congress of his mother? Will he be able to effect his intended reforms in the party? Wait for the plenary.

A smooth transition to his new team is the biggest challenge Rahul faces ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha polls. Rahul has surrounded himself with inexperienced non-political players who have little or no grassroots knowledge.

Sonia did not face this problem in 1998 when she took over, as the old guard installed her and she, in turn, used the experience and loyalty of her chosen core team, including Pranab Mukherjee, Arjun Singh, M.L. Fotedar, Motilal Vohra, A.K. Antony, Ahmed Patel, Janardhan Dwivedi, to run the party.

In Rahul’s case, right from the beginning, it was whispered in party circles that he was going to get rid of the old guard, as he did not feel comfortable with them. This had created apprehension among the old guard, which was perhaps why the seniors were said to be blocking Rahul’s elevation as party chief for the past four years.

Now, Rahul seems to have compromised, and has already hinted that the new team would consist of a blend of experienced senior leaders and youth with vitality and dynamism. “Where can they throw away the old guard? In the Indian Ocean?” quipped a senior Congress leader, asserting that they cannot be wished away.

So, in a sense, the old guard have won the battle. For some time now, Rahul has switched to depending on senior leaders like Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Ashok Gehlot, Sushil Kumar Shinde and P. Chidambaram. He has also chosen Captain Amarinder Singh to head Punjab, and now Siddaramaiah to lead the party into the Karnataka polls.

Hence, the Sachin Pilots, the Jyotiraditya Scindias and Gaurav Gogois must work in sync with the Patels, Azads, Gehlots and the Kamal Naths. Sheila Dikshit has already mended fences with Ajay Maken.

After the plenary, he is likely to announce his new team, which might include his confidants like Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, Shashi Tharoor, R.P.N. Singh, Sushmita Dev, Gaurav Gogoi, Deependra Hooda and Jitin Prasada. The new team is also likely to get representation for women, backward classes, SCs and STs.

Rahul is likely to strengthen the office of the Congress president by including his close associates. As of now, Kopulla Raju, a former bureaucrat who resigned from service and joined the Gandhis in 2013, heads his office, and runs it from his 12, Tughlaq Lane residence.

Rahul has stated intention to further democratise the party. So, will he be able to hold elections for the Congress Working Committee? In 1992, when P.V. Narasimha Rao held the CWC elections after many years, he had to make the elected members resign and had to form new CWC to give representation to all sections. In 1997, when Sitaram Kesri held the polls, there were a lot of alleged irregularities in the polls.

Since Sonia Gandhi took over in 1998, the CWC has been only a nominated body. The old guard is advising against polls, claiming “elections were held only five times”. If elections are not held, the party will pass a resolution leaving the authority of nominating members to the party chief.

So, what happens to Rahul’s reform agenda? The signals will come from the party’s political, economic and foreign policy resolutions, which the subjects committee of the party will come up with.

Kalyani Shankar is a columnist, the former Political Editor of the Hindustan Times and former Washington correspondent of the Hindustan Times.

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