Can PK Save Congress?

Rescue act for the party needs to begin with state units, not by ‘rebranding’ dynasty

- Sagarika Ghose

Navjot Singh Sidhu, cricketer turned BJP neta turned Congress politician, now appointed Punjab state chief, might have met a rather different fate in the age of Indira Gandhi. The original Mrs G, who lived by the Queen of Hearts’ dictum, ‘off with his head’, was imperiously intolerant of any show of strength by state leaders. India’s Iron Lady could demand unquestioned loyalty because she was her party’s supreme votecatcher.

But in 2021, unlike in 1970, Congress’s central leadership is fatally weakened. Today a relatively late entrant like Sidhu, a TV celebrity best known for his quirky Hinglish and oddball puns, can openly attack a veteran chief minister and get ‘rewarded’ for his defiance. The Punjab tug of war has shown the Congress ‘high command’ as neither ‘high’ nor in ‘command’. As Congress hurtles from crisis to crisis, the ageing over 100-year-old party has begun a dialogue with a 44-year-old political strategist. Enter Prashant Kishor.

His meetings with the Gandhi family have set off speculation. But can PK relaunch a party in an existential crisis? Congress hasn’t held leadership elections to its highest body – the Congress Working Committee – in over two decades. Repeated attempts at party elections have come unstuck. Party presidentship seems reserved for a single family which, unlike Jawaharlal Nehru or Indira Gandhi, can no longer win elections.