Gandhi family looks stronger, Ahmed Patel again emerges a key player on political chess board
By Abdulhafiz Lakhani New Delhi
After being low profile for quite some time, the Congress war horse and a staunch Gandhi family loyalist Ahmed Patel again emerged as a key figure in the mainstream of Gandhi’s political management, when he, apparently with the consensus of Dr Manmohan Singh and Mallikarjun Khadge, moved a single line proposal in CWC to reappoint Rahul Gandhi as the next full-time party president. Ahmed Bhai’s resolution was unanimously passed by almost all Congress leaders and CMs present in the CWC meeting via VC.
Now Congress leader Ahmed Patel bats for Rahul Gandhi as Chief. Ahmed Patel criticised the dissenters. Referring to Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mukul Wasnik and Anand Sharma, he said they are occupying key posts in the party and should not have written such a letter. He also said that Rahul Gandhi should take over as Congress president immediately.
After saving its face in Rajasthan thanks to a truce facilitated by the high command, the Congress is once again facing an internal rebellion of sorts, with many party leaders (group 23) writing a letter to Sonia Gandhi, urging a change of leadership. Fifteen months after Rahul Gandhi resigned as president of Congress party, the over 100-year-old political outfit is again in throes of a leadership crisis.
According to sources, Sonia Gandhi is extremely angry with the leaders who wrote the letter. The way Sonia has been re-elected interim president, her position in the party has emerged more strongly. At the same time, there are signs of increasing difficulties in the party for the opposing leaders.
Knowledgeable sources claim that Rahul is mentally not ready to take on the mantle and thus the next natural question is,what was the meaning of CWC’s stamp of approval on Ahmed Bhai’s proposal to bring Rahul Gandhi at helm of affairs. Therefore, the future of Congress is uncertain since on one hand Rahul is not agreeing on taking a role, and on the other hand, no unanimous decision on one name could be reached on names from outside Gandhi family.
How then will the party battle out the challenge posed by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Political observers claim that in the coming times, a few senior leaders could leave the party fold. Interestingly, there is a round of speculation being strongly backed in Congress circles wherein it is said that there are signals of Rahul Gandhi coming to helm after Bihar polls and his name would be announced in the next AICC session. It is believed that the session will be held within the next six months.
Issue is for the party to resolve, opposition outreach has been a problem for sometime now. Some Congressi leaders have pointed out that most non-Congress, non-NDA parties have been in the favour of the government when it comes to crucial bills in Parliament.
“Our leadership issue is an internal one and we have two key leaders heading us including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. We have alliance governments in two state key states and otherwise also in other states, their support is to the party as a whole,” a senior Congress lawmaker said requesting anonymity to siyasat.net
“Floor coordination has been a problem because when you are in Opposition, other parties take an issue-based stand. It is not like the Opposition does not come together to raise issues but greater coordination can be desirable,” the Congress leader added.
(www.siyasat.net is Ahmedabad,Gujarat, India based website)
