New Delhi: An empty chair sat on stage at the training camp in Kurukshetra. Rahul Gandhi gestured towards it. “Imagine the Prime Minister sitting here,” he said.
Then came the demonstration that district Congress chiefs from Haryana and Uttarakhand wouldn’t forget. Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, enacted four scenes—a man approaching the chair with folded hands, someone lying prostrate before it, a person crawling forward on his knees, and a figure walking with head permanently bowed.
“Which of these is today’s Congress,” he asked the 60-odd district presidents gathered under the party’s ‘Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan’ Wednesday.
The room went quiet. A few district chiefs hazarded guesses, picking one model or another. Most stayed silent, uncertain where this was heading.
“None of these is Congress,” Rahul Gandhi said flatly. “I see today’s Congress as people standing in a circle, arms linked, showing unity. No bowing. We need strength, not submission,” he went on.
It was political messaging through street theatre. The camp at Kurukshetra ran from 13 January to 22 January, bringing together district Congress presidents from Haryana and Uttarakhand.
On 21 January, Gandhi delivered what participants are calling a master class in organisational restructuring—but it was also a blunt takedown of how the Congress may have been functioning.
“If someone promises you a ticket and then a senior leader brings me a recommendation letter on your behalf, I will reject it outright,” Gandhi told the gathering, according to multiple accounts from those present at the meeting.
The new formula he outlined was simple: work on the ground, build the organisation, earn your opportunity. No shortcuts, no sifarish.
Under the structure Rahul Gandhi announced, district presidents will directly form booth and block committees, prepare lists and send them to the state president for approval—cutting out traditional layers of middlemen and patronage networks.
The symbolism extended beyond the training hall.
Lunch was initially scheduled with two MLAs present at the camp. But Gandhi picked up a plate, walked over and sat down with the district chiefs instead. In a world obsessed with hierarchies, it wasn’t a small gesture.
By Thursday evening, all 60 district presidents—32 from Haryana, 28 from Uttarakhand—had packed up and left.
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Chadha’s solo run: AAP silent as MP champions gig workers
Speculation is rife ever since AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, once seen as Arvind Kejriwal’s blue-eyed boy, has been charting an independent course.
Lately, Chadha has been taking up issues that resonate with the middle class and help him stay relevant in popular discourse. His latest focus: the rights and job security of gig workers. While his interventions have generated intense social media debate, the AAP has largely steered clear of the issue, with no prominent party leader amplifying the cause.
When reports emerged that the central government had directed e-commerce platforms to drop their 10-minute delivery promise, Chadha was quick to declare victory. He issued written statements and videos claiming credit for the development, while also striking a note of humility by crediting the struggles of gig workers for the “win”.
Yet the AAP remained conspicuous in its silence. ThePrint some party sympathisers even took veiled swipes at Chadha on social media, questioning the motives behind his high-voltage campaign for gig workers.
Kerala CM’s mug ‘signals solidarity’
With Kerala Assembly elections near, one of the LDF’s major political campaigns against the opposition UDF has been the arrest of former Youth Congress President Rahul Mamkootathil for alleged sexual assault.
Now, a mug used by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has sparked buzz on social media for expressing solidarity with a survivor. The Palakkad MLA was expelled by the Congress in December 2025 after multiple complaints were filed against him, including sexual abuse and forced abortion. He was arrested by the Crime Branch.
At the LDF’s recent one-day ‘Satyagraha’ against central government-imposed financial constraints on the state, Vijayan was photographed holding a mug inscribed with “love you to the moon and back”.
The phrase instantly sparked a buzz on social media, with many interpreting it as the Chief Minister’s solidarity with a complainant in the Mamkootathil case.
The phrase was used by one of the complainants on social media after Mamkootathil’s arrest in the sexual assault case. In a Facebook post soon after the arrest, the complainant expressed gratitude for giving her the courage to express herself and went on to say that may the “angel babies forgive”… “especially for trusting the wrong person”.
“Mammas will carry you in our hearts, until we meet again… Amma loves you to the moon and back,” the Facebook post read.
(Edited by Prerna Madan)
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