Sonia Gandhi's Return Dashes Rahul's Hopes For A New Congress

The return of Sonia Gandhi dashes Rahul Gandhi’s hopes of radically reforming the Congress and making it a credible alternative to the BJP and the face of the opposition

- Kaushik Deka

Forty nine percent of the respondents questioned for the India Today Mood of the Nation survey said only a non-Gandhi, non-dynast could revive the Congress. Yet, when asked to name the leader most likely to revive the grand old party, 15 per cent reposed their faith in Priyanka Gandhi and another 11 per cent in Rahul Gandhi.

This contradictory response perhaps best illustrates the lack of an alternative leadership in the Congress party. The sequence of events so far following the party’s second consecutive drubbing in the Lok Sabha election in May demonstrates how the Congress has no strategy or narrative beyond the Gandhis. Enough voices within the party have advocated a fresh and young leadership, yet the Congress think-tank has fallen back on the Gandhis.

When Rahul resigned as party president on May 25, the Congress Working Committee was clueless about a future course of action for the next 75 days. Its solitary reaction was to persuade Rahul to withdraw his resignation, and failing to do so, fall at the feet of Sonia Gandhi. Rahul took charge of the party in December 2017 after Sonia’s two-decade-long reign at the top. Twenty months later, she has succeeded her son, taking over as interim president till the party can elect a new president.