THAT GRAND OLD IMPASSE

The party swaps the dates for presidential polls and Bharat Jodo Yatra-the idea is to buy time and convince Rahul to return as president. He is unlikely to budge. A non-Gandhi chief? Very likely

- Kaushik Deka

IT WAS ONE MORE EPISODE IN A long-running series of embarrassments for the Congress, and it could have done without the usual round of dire prognoses—ahead of a major decision on what its leadership should look like. On August 26, in a five-page-long letter announcing his resignation from the party, former Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad launched a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi, de facto head of the Congress, singling him out for its dismal performance in the past eight years. Several leaders have indeed blamed Rahul while quitting the Congress, but this was the first time a party veteran of 50 years has held the Gandhi scion accountable for its electoral debacles, on record.

The unprecedented criticism came two days before the Congress Working Committee (CWC) announced the schedule for the polls to elect the next Congress president. Several Congress insiders claim the letter, as parting shots go, was meant to draw blood: to stall any possibility of Rahul resuming the party’s reins. It need not have made the effort. Tired of the constant criticism over his leadership style and the Gandhi family’s grip over the party, the former Congress chief has told colleagues on multiple occasions that he wants a non-Gandhi as president.

Yet, there have been desperate attempts for the past few weeks—as the election schedule inched closer—to convince Rahul to return to the top post. “Rahul Gandhi is the most acceptable Congress leader with pan-India support,” says Abhishek Manu Singhvi, third-term Rajya Sabha MP and CWC member. “That’s why all Congress workers want him back. To question his candidature, by the very people who preach inner-party democracy, is itself anti-democratic.”