The Congress Working Committee meeting on Sunday virtually ended up in smoke. The meeting was called to deliberate on the Party’s near decimation in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur and Goa. Pragmatism demands that the Congress Party go for a complete overhaul and that the present leadership should take the blame for the near fiasco the Party faced in the just concluded elections in five states and move aside to set the ball rolling for elections to the highest post. That was what the members of the G23 dissident group had earlier suggested. It was a prudent suggestion but Sonia Gandhi and her children don’t seem to care about the fate of the Party. They are more interested in holding on to power even after losing their pocket borough in Uttar Pradesh, when the need of the hour is for them to allow fresh faces and younger leaders guided by the veterans in the Party to lead at this critical juncture. But some of these Congress elders too are stuck in a time warp. Ashok Gehlot the Rajasthan CM shouted the loudest that Rahul Gandhi should formally lead the Party now. The reason for Gehlot’s effusive support for Rahul Gandhi is to block the path for the likes of Sachin Pilot who have the capability of leading the Party from doing so. The problem with the old guard is that they don’t want to release their grip on the Congress and perhaps prefer a weak leadership which allows state leaders to continue without accountability.
The problem with the Congress is its inability to face the fact that the BJP is simply steamrolling it in state after state. After the elections in Kerala and West Bengal last year when the Congress did poorly, a Committee headed by Ashok Chavan was formed to analyse the Party’s poor performance in the two states. Intriguingly, the Party did not take cognisance of the Report and nor did it effect any change in the Party set-up. Hence many CWC members walked into the Sunday meeting with scepticism that any change would happen.
The CWC is the highest executive authority of the Congress and is responsible for carrying out all the activities, policies and programmes of the Party. It reports to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) which is the parent body. The CWC therefore is the head and heart of the Congress Party and it needs to take decisive action but that is far from happening. This leaves the rank and file who actually want a rejuvenated Congress Party disheartened. The Nehru-Gandhi family has its set of loyalists and they continue to be patronised as a quid pro quo.
