New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi is no longer the Congress president, but his close aides continue to exercise control over party affairs. Despite Rahul taking a backseat in party affairs, not even attending a key meeting last week unlike other non-general secretary members such as A.K. Antony, his team continues to flourish in positions accorded by him.
Office of RG — as the team is informally referred to by many Congress leaders — came into existence in 2017, when Rahul took over as party chief. The team, an amalgamation of young politicians and non-political actors, includes his social media coordinator Nikhil Alva, Alankar Sawai, Sachin Rao, K. Raju, Praveen Chakaravarty, Sandeep Singh, and K.B. Byju.
Despite getting flak for “misleading” Rahul in terms of setting the agenda for the Lok Sabha elections, which the Congress lost miserably, most of them have either been rewarded with an increased mandate or continue to exert a similar influence over key decisions within the party.
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Taking the reins
A television producer by profession, Alva is now being recommended to head the party’s social media cell in place of former chief Divya Spandana. Spandana stepped down from her post in the wake of the party’s Lok Sabha rout and has been missing from the scene ever since.
Alva, son of former governor and former party general secretary Margaret Alva, who fell out of favour for alleging bribery in ticket distribution, is Office of RG’s interface with the media but has often got into abrasive exchanges with journalists.
In charge of training, Rao is now set to organise an expansive programme for Congress leaders across states. He will coordinate with pradesh Congress committee (PCC) chiefs and have units in every state. One such programme is scheduled to be held in Maharashtra, which is headed for polls later this year, in the first week of October.
As part of the programme, Rao had suggested calling trainers “preraks”, but the proposal was rejected by interim party chief Sonia Gandhi.
At a recent meeting chaired by Sonia, Rao came under attack from senior Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Mukul Wasnik and Sunil Kumar Jakhar for making it seem like the party was aping the BJP.
Rao was left out of the CWC meeting held on 8 August, two days before Sonia was appointed interim party president. On Rahul’s insistence, however, he was added to the list of invitees for the 10 August meeting of the CWC.
“We think he is the one who misled Rahul,” a PCC chief told ThePrint, while dismissing his training programme. “What new training programme? It’s not like his old one worked.”
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Powerful in Uttar Pradesh
Rahul’s former speech writer Singh has been deputed to assist party general secretary (east UP) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The former JNU politician courted controversy recently for assaulting a journalist trying to approach Priyanka in Sonbhadra.
But Singh isn’t only managing social media for Priyanka. His association with UP reorganisation in-charge Ajay Lallu allows him to extend his mandate to running the scene in the state, say sources.
“Lallu is a front, Sandeep takes the decisions,” a second Congress functionary said.
Sawai, a former investment banker, had no defined role in Rahul’s office before the Lok Sabha election. But he was part of the process to shortlist, and at times even select, candidates. “Currently, he is helping with the Maharashtra elections,” the first Congress functionary said.
“I know for a fact Rahul is not involved in party affairs at the moment,” the leader said. “If he is sending a list of recommended names, considering he is a manipulator, I hope it has Rahul’s approval.”
Interim Congress president Sonia is also giving an expanded ambit to Rahul’s close aide Chakravarty, another former investment banker who many party leaders believe misled Rahul on vital issues ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Chakravarty, who headed the Congress’ data analytics department, was last Tuesday appointed the chairman of the technology and data cell, a more empowered version of the former, which has been disbanded.
The new cell will have units in all states and will assist the Congress in a range of activities — right from providing constituency-wise data and analysis to helping in the selection of party candidates, and developing and maintaining a “suitable communication system to communicate regularly with party workers and office-bearers”.
Former Special Protection Group (SPG) officer Byju, meanwhile, is now responsible for running Rahul’s office in his Lok Sabha constituency Wayanad.
K. Raju, a civil servant-turned-politician who heads Rahul’s office in New Delhi, is also assisting Byju in constituency management.
There is no lack of resentment within the Congress over what they perceive as the RG office’s attempts to maintain control of the party. Ever since Sonia took over, many have pushed back against his aides getting their say.
“It doesn’t matter that Rahul has taken a backseat, his team is up front and driving,” said one of the two aforementioned Congress functionaries.
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