Looks like it’s a shift from stage one to stage two in the Congress party’s leadership countdown. Priyanka Gandhi has recoiled from the drubbing the party, her brother Rahul Gandhi and she herself got in the Lok Sabha polls, and is seemingly edging her way up. Priyanka made a mark in Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh, where she successfully resisted the administration’s attempt to thwart her visit to the families of 10 persons gunned down by the village headman and his gang in a land-grab attempt. Her “success” impressed many, and a clamour has started, again, that she be made the Congress president. As Rahul Gandhi is reticent about being the party chief for now, this might be the only way forward for the party.
Former Union minister K Natwar Singh who was a confidante of the Nehru family for years has stated only the obvious when he said the Congress party will split if no one from the Nehru family headed it. He informally proposed the name of Priyanka, setting the stage for a fresh round of discussion both within and outside the party. The likes of loud-mouth Shatrughan Sinha, who recently left the BJP and cozied up to the Congress, were quick to catch on it. This is likely to gain traction for the reason that not many Congressmen think Rahul Gandhi can effectively take on a behemoth like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose image was seen growing by the day.
Priyanka Gandhi has given out hints in the past that she was willing to take the fight forward. This, after she was introduced as the general secretary in charge of eastern UP. She was even ready to stand against Modi in Varanasi, but saner judgment on the part of the party leadership prevented such a misadventure in the Lok Sabha polls.
There is unanimity that the Congress party would fight to the finish if it is left in the hands of someone outside the “first family.” For one, there is hardly any leader of stature and credibility in the party today, due to the absolute domination by the family in running the party and its governments for decades. While calls were made by those like Captain Amarinder Singh to introduce new and young faces to the leadership, his obvious references were to those like Sachin Pilot or Jyotiraditya Scindia. What he failed to fathom is the facelessness of these young leaders at the national level. A leader should be capable of drumming up support for the party.