Leaders may quit key Congress posts if party gets trounced in polls

AICC officials, members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and the Central Election Committee (CEC) could put in their papers to enable party president Sonia Gandhi to constitute her team in the organisation against the backdrop of reports that the Congress’ numbers in the 16th Lok Sabha would drastically come down.
Besides, a demand for change of guard in some states may be raised in the coming days if the Congress performs dismally.
Many in the party privately concede that the organisation remained defunct in the last 10 years despite Mrs Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi at the helm as they focused more on the government than rebuilding the party in a number of key states. Another section of the organisation blames party ministers for failing to connect to the people. These ministers will now try to occupy positions in the party, they said.
“The CWC has hardly discussed important issues seriously. Its meetings were called either to pass resolutions or endorse decisions taken by the managers to please the leadership,” they feel.
The CEC, meanwhile, has repeatedly failed to shortlist the right candidates, as seen in the Assembly polls in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Goa in the past. The CEC goes by considerations of caste, region and religion and obliges resourceful leaders in selecting party candidates. The Aam Aadmi Party had demolished these considerations by defeating the Congress, BJP, BSP and other parties in the Delhi Assembly polls a few months ago. This was a message to the so-called national parties, regional players and those playing the vote-bank card.
The promotion of lightweight leaders merely on personal loyalty has also affected the party’s growth in a large number of states if one goes by the Congress’ performance in UPA-2.
Mrs Gandhi and Mr Gandhi have little choice to identify and encourage mass-based workers because they rely more on NGO-type leaders with the calculation that their image would help the party retain power and, in the process, have ignored the real political workers.
The party will now find it difficult to suppress the voice of the workers if they question the decisions of the central leadership. Mrs Gandhi may constitute an introspection committee like that of the Antony committee to find the reasons behind the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections, hold a chintan shivir (brainstorming session) and a party CMs’ conferences in a bid to rejuvenate the party.