Congress power structure still not clear
By Kalyani Shankar
Even as the Congress workers are already confused about the conflicting statements made by some senior leaders, including the Gandhi scion Rahul, the Congress media cell chairperson Janardhan Dwivedi has created yet another debate by insisting that the present model of power sharing between the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may continue in future.
Interestingly, not only the clueless Congress workers but also the Congress leaders are confused about the future. The first question is whether the Rahul magic will work in the 2014 elections? Will Rahul Gandhi lead them from the front, or from the back like his mother Sonia Gandhi? Secondly, will Prime Minister Manmohan Singh head the government if it comes back to power for a third term, or will it be someone else of Rahul and Sonia Gandhi’s choice? There is no clarity about these things because of the varied statements made by responsible leaders.
There is a pattern to the whole thing. Some Congress leaders think that it is a calculated strategy adopted by the Congress leadership. First it was Rahul Gandhi, who made a rare appearance in the Central Hall of Parliament and stated that becoming the prime minister was not his priority and he wanted to develop leadership in the state. This made the party wonder whether Rahul Gandhi was not going to lead from the front. The next statement came from Prime Minister Singh himself when he did not rule out a third term for himself while returning from Durban recently. Singh is not a person who would make such a statement unless he is sure of himself. A daring statement of the AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, who criticised the dual power centre existing at present and suggested that there should be only one power centre and prime minister should have all the authority to function, followed this. He implied that the present arrangement between Singh and Sonia has not worked well. Digvijay Singh is perceived to be close to Rahul Gandhi and the Congressmen started reading meanings into it. Also, Digvijay Singh is not a person who would take such risks in annoying the leadership and therefore someone must have given him the go ahead. But Janardhan Dwivedi’s official statement this week has made it more confusing. In his efforts to snub Digvijay Singh, did Dwivedi mean that the Congress plans to continue the same power sharing arrangement in the future? That being the official line, will Rahul Gandhi also find a Manmohan Singh of his choice like his mother did in 2004?
Several Congress men, who had have been demanding that Rahul should be the PM candidate, are disappointed and confused by these flip-flops. With Sonia Gandhi’s health causing concern, they expect a Gandhi family member to lead the party. They heaved a sigh of relief when Rahul was made the official number two in January this year. But within four months all these contradictory statements are coming out from the party leaders.
Why is the Congress adopting this strategy? One interpretation could be the Modi factor. With Modi nursing national ambitions, there are expectations that he may be declared as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. Both the Congress as well as Rahul does not want it to be a Modi versus Rahul fight, as Modi may steal the show with his oratory and his dramatisation. So what better way than to project Manmohan Singh for a third time with his proven track record? The whole campaign could be built around Manmohan Singh government’s achievements, including the proposed Food security bill, cash transfer scheme and other welfare measures. Manmohan Singh is not a novice and could take on Modi effortlessly with his clean image and middle class constituency.
Secondly, the Muslim factor may also work and the minorities may come back to the Congress fearing a Modi rule. On the other hand, if this fails the blame would only go to Singh and the usual anti-incumbency factor and not on Rahul who may continue to lead the party. If the campaign is built around Rahul and his magic does not work, then his future would be at stake. Moreover, alliance party leaders like Sharad Pawar, Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan may not like to work under a young leader like Rahul and continuance of Singh may suit them.
The second reason could be that Rahul genuinely does not want to become the Prime Minister and would perhaps continue the experiment, which his mother had tried. Perhaps, he too wants to enjoy absolute power without taking any responsibility. If this is so, it will not be a desirable experiment. Digvijay Singh was right when he said that the power sharing experiment between Sonia and Manmohan Singh has failed. This was the view of many when scam after scam began to emerge in the UPA-II.
The Congress did adopt a one-man one-post policy until Indira Gandhi began to occupy the posts of Congress President and that of the Prime Minister. But there is one difference. The Prime Minister was more powerful than the party president and the party acknowledged this fact because of the strong prime ministers like Nehru and Indira Gandhi. It will not be good for a healthy democracy to have too many power centres – in this case, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh.
It is possible that neither the Congress nor the BJP may announce their respective prime ministerial candidates as both face some problems. The next best thing would be to appoint a more prominent person as the campaign committee chairman. Rahul is already heading the Congress poll coordination committee and Modi may be heading the campaign committee soon. (IPA Service)