Having
decimated the political career of Rahul Gandhi and pushing Congress on the
downward slide, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be a happy man today. The
Congress party is struggling to stand on its feet.
Even after
a month and half after general elections and Rahul Gandhi offering to resign as
party president, the party is not able to find a suitable successor to the top
post.
Names of
several leaders are doing the rounds in the public domain but the party has
been unable to arrive at any consensus candidate. Who is it going to be? Jyotiraditya
Scindia, Mukul Wasnik, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sachin Pilot, Sushil Kumar
Shinde…
Several
party veterans, including Karan Singh and Janardan Dwivedi, had questioned the
delay as well the procedure of finding a replacement for Rahul.
Jyotiraditya
Scindia in Bhopal said, “We have to search a new party president. A lot of time
has elapsed. Now, we cannot allow more time to pass.”
In the
Congress scheme of things, Sonia Gandhi and family would be looking for a
Manmohan Singh as party president.
Procedurally, they (Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka) should have a name (which they would have in any case) or announce election for the post; the Congress Working Committee, would decide on an election/selection date. But how they make it look like is different.
Dwivedi,
former head of organisational matters in the party, had questioned the
procedure. “What kind of a committee is this where A K Antony has not
participated? If there was a formal composition, it would be more credible,” he
said last week.
“There
was a gap as Rahul ji should have set up a panel of leaders,’’ he said. Rahul technically
remains the party chief until the CWC formally accepts his resignation.