Overnight, it seems, Modi has induced a rush of moral accountability in a party which hitherto was notorious for absorbing electoral setbacks without anyone owning up a wee whit of responsibility. A leadership impervious to a series of defeats was now being thrown into an internal crisis by none other than its own supreme head.

After announcing his decision to quit at the first meeting of the Congress Working Committee after the election results, Rahul apparently made himself unavailable to all but his hand-picked aides. Courtiers found themselves cut out by the Leader who indicated that he was not ready to be persuaded to change his decision.

After a tense hiatus of 24 hours when nobody was allowed to meet him, Sonia Gandhi’s trusted political adviser, Ahmed Patel, and, a day later, Priyanka Vadra, Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, met him, as per media reports. His callers denied they discussed his resignation but it was clear they did nothing else.

Of course, Sonia Gandhi is dead-set against her son quitting the party post. She cannot countenance someone else from outside the family taking over the reins of what she believes is a family firm. All indications, however, suggest that the son is equally firm on resigning. Maybe a Manmohan Singh-like figure can be found to head the party till Rahul is ready again to assume charge of the party.

Again, if Rahul quits owning up responsibility for the huge blow to the party in the recent election, what justification will heads of various Pradesh Congress Committees have to continue after their humiliating defeat? The Raj Babbar, Sunil Jakhars, Sanjay Nirupama, etc all will have no earthly reason to continue after their chief embarrasses them publicly by walking away from his post.

Probably, individual responsibility is what Rahul had in view when he publicly rebuked Gehlot, P Chidambaram, Kamal Nath, etc, for neglecting the party while concentrating on the election of their respective sons. This uncharacteristic ticking-off of senior leaders hinted that Rahul was unlikely to put himself on a different pedestal. He could insist on accountability for the party only if he himself was ready to admit his role for the disaster.

An upshot of the public humiliation of party bosses by Rahul is that a Rajasthan minister has sent in his resignation in order to shame Chief Minister Gehlot to own up responsibility for the total wipe-out of the party in the State. The BJP won all 25 seats in Rajasthan. Nath too is under pressure for the abject failure of the party in M P As for Chidambaram, win or loss in Tamil Nadu is linked directly to the fortunes of the leading Dravida party with which the Congress is aligned.

The Congress had a tie-up with the DMK which swept the poll, helping Chidambaram’s controversial son, Karthi, to win. In 2014, Karthi failed to save his deposit owing to DMK’s lack of popular support. The ongoing turmoil in Congress may not have a direct bearing on its allies, but they have a deep interest in its fortunes. If Rahul’s resignation drama is not resolved soon, it will further demoralize the opposition which is struggling to find its feet after its rejection by the people.

Indeed, the uncertainty over Rahul’s status has caused confusion over the leadership of the Congress MPs in the Lok Sabha. With the defeat of Mallikarjun Kharge, the party has to search for a new leader. Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party but did not head its Lok Sabha component.

Shashi Tharoor has expressed a desire to replace Kharge, but his being an accused in the ‘suicide’ of his wife, Sunanda Pushkar, and earlier his involvement in the IPL ‘sweat equity’ scandal, should normally disqualify him from leading the party in the Lok Sabha despite his gift of the gab and an ability to turn an elegant phrase or two in English.

Jyotiraditya Scindia could have been considered but he failed to retain his seat. In short, there is a crisis of leadership both at the organisational and parliamentary levels in the Grand Old Party. Unless resolved soon, it can have an adverse effect on the Congress ministries in the States.

The Correspondent Bureau with inputs from agencies

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Addressing a press conference here, the former Finance Minister said ‘enough’ economists and experts in the subject had been consulted and they broadly agreed that India has the capacity to implement the scheme.

Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said the implementation of the scheme is possible, Chidambaram added.

“Our calculation shows that it will not cross 2 percent of the GDP, it will be 1.8 percent of the GDP at any given point of time,” he said.

“The scheme will be rolled out in phases and we will cover the five crore families in phases,” he said.

The senior party leader said the scheme has to be tested in the field and then rolled out.

An expert committee will be set up for its implementation and it will design the scheme at every stage and “we will consult the committee before we move to the next stage,” he said.

There is enough data to identify the five crore families, Chidambaram said.

When the 100 days employment scheme (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) was implemented in 2009, BJP leader Arun Jaitley had said it was not possible to implement the scheme.

Jaitley, however, forgot to say that doubling income for the farmers was not possible when Modi announced it, he said.

“I don’t wish to reply to anyone who criticizes a programme intended to wipe out poverty,” he said answering a question on criticism of the scheme.

“MNREGA eradicated hunger income scheme will root out poverty.”

The Congress alone cannot be blamed for not eradicating poverty, he said adding the party had taken several measures to root it out and succeeded in several of them as well.

“To eradicate poverty, a minimum income is needed otherwise poverty will not end.”

Like the Minimum Wages Act which stipulates minimum wages, every family should have a minimum income and the government cannot provide the entire income and that was why the scheme is called the “Minimum Income Support Scheme.”

An amount of Rs 72,000 a year, a standard amount Rs 6,000 per month is proposed to be transferred to the account of beneficiaries if the Congress is voted to power in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

He said his party was aware of the challenges involved in implementing the scheme and added that “we will overcome these challenges.”

“We will insist that every family should open an account in the name of the woman in the family and the money will be transferred to her account.”

Poverty eradication should be accepted as an “Aram (meaning dharma in Tamil), it is dharma, it is a moral duty of every government in the 21st century,” he said.

To a question, he said, “don’t compare Kisan Samman Scheme with this scheme and trivialize our scheme,” he said and alleged the BJP rolled out the farmers plan “for elections.”

Had the scheme been important for the BJP-led NDA, Chidambaram asked why it did not implement it in “full five budgets,” and rolled it out at the fag end of its tenure.

He indicated that the Congress manifesto is likely to be released on April 2.

On March 25, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said 20 percent families in poorest of the poor category will be given Rs 72,000 each annually as a minimum income.

Gandhi had touted the promise as a “groundbreaking” measure to end poverty.

The Congress president had said: “The time for change has come”. Five crore families and 25 crore people will directly benefit from the scheme, he claimed, terming it is a “final assault” to eradicate poverty in the country.

with inputs from news agencies.

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