NEW HEAD, OLD HAND

The expectation in the Congress was that the Raipur session would provide a new deal that would inspire party workers. But by the end of the three-day exercise, it was felt that the party under Kharge had chosen to stick to the old way of doing things

- SONI MISHRA

Late in the afternoon on February 24, the first day of the 85th plenary session of the All India Congress Committee, as former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi arrived at the venue of the meeting in Nava Raipur, party president Mallikarjun Kharge obliged the waiting camerapersons by making Rahul pause on the steps of the building, putting his arms around his shoulders and manoeuvring him to face the flashlights.

That moment captured the excellent rapport between Kharge and Rahul. It also offered a glimpse into the respective roles that the two leaders are likely to play-while Kharge would deal with organisational responsibilities, Rahul would remain the face of the Congress. And it was also clear that Rahul, fresh from the successful completion of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, was the centre of attention at the session.

The session was important in terms of establishing Kharge’s leadership before thousands of AICC delegates—the party’s representatives at the grassroots level. But it was clear from the very beginning that while Kharge would helm the organisation, Rahul, freed from organisational responsibilities, would lead the party’s outreach as its face and its chief communicator. If the session’s primary purpose was to ratify Kharge’s election and allow him to put in place his own team and provide him an apt occasion to spell out his vision for the party, the highlight of the event was the yatra and the difference it had made to the morale of the ordinary party worker as much as it had enhanced Rahul’s image.