With a stunning electoral victory in Karnataka, India’s principal opposition party has regained some confidence and yet there are miles to go before it can hope to retake power from BJP, the saffron giant. What’s certain as of now is that the rest of the Opposition bandwagon comprising regional parties can no more dismiss the Congress lightly or pin the tag of irrelevance on it as they tended to do in the recent past. The assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are crucial for the grand old party. These will set the trend for the general elections 2024. This is time for the tricolour party to play its cards well and reclaim its relevance as a national party.
The Congress Working Committee is set to be reconstituted with new faces. Those among the old guard have their relevance but the party should be able to catch the fancy of the new generation by supplementing its leadership structure with new blood over and above the youthful faces of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra. Significantly, Priyanka as general secretary of the party started her rounds of the assembly poll campaigns with a foray in Madhya Pradesh. She might lead the party campaign for the 2024 parliament polls in case Rahul Gandhi is constrained by court orders to remain out of such activities, leave alone contesting the elections. Her stewardship of the Uttar Pradesh elections in the past did not help the Congress reinvent itself in a state that sends the largest number of MPs, state-wise, to the Lok Sabha. The Vadra baggage perhaps hangs heavy on her. But, the people are the ultimate authority to decide who their leader should be; not the media.
There are many imponderables for the Congress in the run-up to the polls. The Rajasthan scenario remains fluid as Sachin Pilot upped the ante and threatened to form a new party. He’s still in a mood for bargain, and less keen on forming another party for the reason that he knows his limitations. The BJP is not here to offer him the CM’s post either. The party’s problem would be more on another front, namely to try and position itself at the head of an anti-BJP coalition comprising the regional parties too. A ‘deadwood’ like Nitish Kumar is attempting to act as the fulcrum around which such a coalition should shape up; in the hope that he could fish in troubled waters and be the next PM. West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee has in her the potential to upstage the Bihari Babu if such an eventuality arises. Ultimately, it all depends on how many seats the Congress can get in the parliament polls.