A house divided

Unease and impatience intensify in the Congress as leadership crisis remains unresolved

- SONI MISHRA

An emergency meeting of the Congress Working Committee was held on February 26 to discuss the Delhi riots; Rahul Gandhi was conspicuous by his absence. He was abroad. Rahul has reportedly been skipping CWC meetings after stepping down as Congress president in August last year.

Rahul’s absence from the scene when the Narendra Modi government came under attack for its failure to control the Delhi riots has only accentuated the ongoing leadership debate in the Congress. Several party leaders have displayed unease and impatience about the leadership issue dragging on. The failure of the Congress to win even a single seat in the Delhi assembly elections for the second consecutive time seems to have triggered an outburst of views within the party.

It all began with Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of former president Pranab Mukherjee, taking on veteran leader P. Chidambaram for praising the Aam Aadmi Party for its poll victory. She took to Twitter asking Chidambaram whether the Congress had outsourced its fight against the BJP. In yet another intraparty skirmish, former Delhi unit chief of the Congress Ajay Maken criticized former Mumbai Congress president Milind Deora for praising the AAP regime’s handling of Delhi’s finances.