The Congress Leadership Crisis
The leadership issue in the Congress seems to be taking a turbulent form. After a letter from 23 leaders of the party calling for sweeping changes in the organisation, another group has come out in support of current party president Sonia Gandhi.
The 23 leaders, including former chief ministers, members of the party’s highest decision-making body the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and sitting Members of Parliament, have suggested far-reaching changes including dissolution of powers to state units and re-constituting the CWC.
The leaders said in the letter that over-centralisation of the organisation and micro-management has always proven to be counterproductive. They said that the party has witnessed a steady decline reflected in successive electoral verdicts in 2014 and 2019, noting that the reasons were manifold.
The letter stated that even after 14 months of the 2019 verdict, the Congress party has not undertaken “honest introspection” to analyse the reasons for its continued decline.
The meeting of the Congress Working Committee scheduled for 11 AM on Monday to discuss current political challenges and the party’s leadership issue is expected to be a fiery affair. The meeting comes in the backdrop of a leaked no-holds-barred letter, signed by 23 party leaders including five former chief ministers, several former Union ministers and CWC members- urging interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi to put in place full time and effective leadership of the party and put into effect the long due overhaul of the organisation. Another group of party leader have demanded that the CWC immediately resolve to bring Rahul Gandhi back as party chief.
The letter, written earlier this month when Sonia completed a year as interim chief of the party, has been signed by veteran and younger Congress leaders. It firmly sends across the message that the restlessness within the party isn’t prevalent only among the new generation of its leaders or those considered to be confidantes of former party chief Rahul Gandhi nor is the ongoing intra-party crisis purely the result of a tussle between the Old Guard and younger leaders.
Party sources tell Outlook that Monday’s meeting “will definitely not be as dramatic” as the CWC meeting of March 5, 1998, which had put an abrupt end to Sitaram Kesri’s tenure as Congress president and transferred the leadership to Sonia. However, there is “every possibility of some CWC members speaking, for once, about the rot within the party without the fear of losing the confidence of the Gandhis,” one of the signatories of the letter tells Outlook.
That resolution of the party’s leadership question, an organisational overhaul and greater clarity on issues of the party’s social and economic ideology have been kept in abeyance ever Rahul resigned the party’s presidency is widely known. The CWC meeting of August 10 last year, which had nominated Sonia as the party’s interim chief, and those which had taken place for the two preceding months since Rahul first announced his intention of resigning had repeatedly asserted on the need for an extensive revamp of the party.
In the year gone by, Sonia, however, focused more on revamping the party’s state units while the AICC was largely left untouched. The changes in states, much needed as they were and even dramatic on occasion, were carried out by Sonia in consultation with Rahul, despite the latter maintaining a calculated distance from the day-to-day affairs of the party until March this year when the coronavirus pandemic forced the Centre to impose a nationwide lockdown. Sonia had set up an 11-member consultative group in March to regularly discuss issues of national concern and firm up the party’s position on them. Though the group was chaired by former prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, its deliberations were guided by Rahul’s stand on various issues.
Despite the impression of being more involved with the party’s working, Rahul refrained from giving any definite indicator of whether he is prepared to withdraw his resignation and return as party chief. At several CWC meetings and other deliberations between Sonia and party leaders, the demand for Rahul’s return to the top party office has been a permanent fixture. This tussle was often painted as the result of unease among Rahul’s confidantes with the influence that seniors close to Sonia enjoyed within the party.
When several of Rahul’s aides- Ajoy Kumar, Pradyot Debbarma, Ashok Tanwar or Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress, this impression only strengthened. However, a mere glance through the names of those who have signed the recent letter to Sonia is enough to show that frustration with the party’s state of drift is all-pervasive in the Congress now. The signatories include old warhorses like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan, Veerappa Moily and younger leaders like Jitin Prasad and Milind Deora, among others.
Congress leaders like Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari, both signatories of the recent letter, have consistently been vocal about the need for the party to put an end to the uncertainty over its leadership. While Tharoor has said that given Sonia’s poor health, it is “unfair” to expect her to continue indefinitely as interim party chief, Tewari believes that either the party must extend her interim tenure into a full-term presidency or urge Rahul to take the reins. Tewari, and several other party leaders, believe that if neither of these options is exercised, the party must open the Congress presidency up for elections and follow up the process with polls for the CWC and other organisational posts which, under the Congress constitution, should be filled through intra-party elections.
Another signatory to the letter told Outlook that “it is unfortunately true that no other party leader has the pan-India appeal that the Nehru-Gandhis have and so it is imperative to have Sonia, if Rahul is still reluctant, appointed full-term president but we also need other organizational changes and to fix both responsibility and accountability for work assigned.” Various formulations are being discussed in a fragmented way by different groupings within the party, the leader said, adding that “all these have to be put before the CWC and then the CWC should take a final call on what’s the best way forward”.
Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi on Monday asked Congress Working Committee (CWC) members "to begin deliberations towards the process of transition to relieve her from the duty of party chief", sources said.
In the virtual meeting, Gandhi asked the CWC members to proceed with the process of electing a new President, sources said.
Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi, other party leaders including Manmohan Singh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Amarinder Singh, Mallikarjun Kharge, PL Punia, KC Venugopal and AK Antony are present at the virtual meeting.
Sonia Gandhi was appointed as an interim President on August 10, 2019, by the CWC, after Rahul Gandhi stepped down as party chief, taking the responsibility for party's disastrous defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Congress seems divided over the issue. Gandhi family loyalists and Congress Chief Ministers took on the section of leaders who signed the letter and rallied behind the Gandhi family, calling for Sonia Gandhi to stay or Rahul Gandhi to take charge again.
Various leaders including Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Karnataka unit chief DK Shivakumar have requested Sonia Gandhi to continue as party President.
SC department of AICC passed a resolution asking Sonia Gandhi to continue as the Congress president.
There is a section in the party who is demanding Rahul Gandhi's return as Congress chief.
Congress units of Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, several leaders demanded that Rahul Gandhi should be made party president again.
However, sources had said, Rahul Gandhi is not ready to take up the post of party President, but leaders close to him are hopeful as he is playing an active role in taking on the Narendra Modi Government and looking after the party affairs.
Gandhi, who took the charge of Congress president in 2017 resigned from the post taking responsibility of the defeat of 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile, some leaders close to Rahul have also written to the CWC pressing for the Gandhi’s return as chief.
“Gandhis are the symbol of sacrifice. Decision by Congress CWC was a majority decision reflecting the will of 1100 AICC, 8800 PCC members, five crore workers and 12 crore supporters who want Rahul Gandhi as their leader,” MP Manickam Tagore said, referring to the 2019 decision of the CWC to name Sonia Gandhi as party president after Rahul declined to accept a unanimous CWC appeal to stay in the post.
Apart from Tagore, Challa Vamshi Chand Reddy, ex Telangana lawmaker and AICC secretary in charge of Maharashtra has also asked for the promotion of Rahul Gandhi as Congress President “without any further delay.” In a letter to the CWC on Sunday, Challa Reddy said any delay in Rahul’s reinstatement would be at the cost of the Congress.
A section of party seniors has been pushing for the need to have Sonia or Rahul as party chief but assisted by “2-4 vice or working presidents” who can share her burden and do the groundwork. There is also a view that the party must revive its constitutionally mandated mechanism of having a 10-member Congress Parliamentary Board (CPB) that can collectively decide the party’s strategy and view on various issues.
“The current process under which the Congress president alone takes a call on certain aspects of the party after discussion with leaders of her inner circle may have worked when we were organizationally stronger or were in power but today there is a need to break the status quo and give every faction of the party the satisfaction of her/his view being considered seriously,” a CWC member tells Outlook.
Between Rahul’s resignation and Sonia’s appointment as interim Congress chief, various sections of the party had floated different names as possible contenders for the Congress presidency. These included names like P. Chidambaram, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mukul Wasnik, Kumari Selja, Ashok Gehlot, Kamal Nath and some others. Ahead of confirming Sonia’s appointment as interim chief, the CWC had made small groups of party leaders to discuss various names.
Vice-presidents (any three could be picked): Digvijaya Singh, P Chidambaram, Mallikarjun Kharge and Jitendra Singh
Political secretary (Only one to be selected): Rajeev Satav, Rajeev Gowda, Ajay Maken and Randeep Singh Surjewala
General secretaries: Sachin Pilot, Sushmita Dev, Manicka Tagore
Twenty-three senior leaders of the Congress, including five former Chief Ministers, several members of the Congress Working Committee, sitting MPs, and former Union Ministers, wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi, calling for sweeping changes at all levels.
The letter acknowledged that the youth of the country had unequivocally chosen Narendra Modi over the Congress and underlined that the erosion of the party’s support base and the loss of the confidence of the youth are matters of serious concern.
The consensus was that they had no place in the new Rahul Gandhi regime, in which he may not hold the position but will remain de-facto head of the party.
When several senior Congress leaders, including CWC members, got a whiff of this letter, and found their names missing, they planned protest this development.
Sources say none of the groups showed confidence in any of these leaders taking over as Congress president and most of them ended up instead in listing the drawbacks of removing the Nehru-Gandhis from the presidency. Though this may be an indicator of the sycophancy surrounding the Gandhi family, it is also true that given the factional wars within the party, a non-Gandhi will find it extremely difficult to navigate the organisational maze. Now, the same lot of names and a few additions like that of Rahul aide Rajiv Satav who in the last CWC meet had launched into an unsparing critique of the UPA-era leaders – are being floated for possible nomination as working president or CPB members.
Amid calls from within the Congress to hold polls for presidency, senior leader Salman Khurshid on Sunday said the party should give consensus a chance instead of elections which create divisiveness.
Khurshid also said Rahul Gandhi enjoys the “full support” and “endorsement” of party leaders and workers, and it does not matter whether he wears the label of a president or not.
“I have said very clearly that the Gandhis are leaders of the Congress. Nobody can deny this, even the opposition cannot deny this. I am quite happy having a leader, I don’t worry about whether or not we have a president, we have a leader (in Rahul Gandhi) and that is comforting for me,” the former Union minister told PTI in an interview.
His remarks assume significance as they come just ahead of the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision making body, which is likely to deliberate on the leadership issue that is in the spotlight with Sonia Gandhi completing a year as interim chief.
Also, 23 Congress leaders, including some ex-ministers have written to party president Sonia Gandhi for the overhaul of the organisational structure.
Asked about the section of party leaders calling for elections to the CWC and presidency, Khurshid hit out at those asking for internal polls, saying why are people so anxious to make these demands in the Congress when they are not made in any other party.
“I am very surprised. I have not heard a single demand being made in the Communist party or in the regional parties or in the BJP. I have not heard about demand for elections in any of those parties,” Khurshid said.
“Elections are important, but the historical context in which elections have to be held, circumstances, have to be considered. Consensus has been an important part of the political process in the Congress,” he said.
Giving up consensus and opting for elections, without reflecting upon the implications and consequences might be running into “unknown, unchartered territory”, he said.
Khurshid also said that such issues should be discussed within the party and not outside it.
His comments come days after Shashi Tharoor had said that he has been advocating elections to the CWC and for the post of the president as it would certainly have several beneficial outcomes for the party.
Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit had also said recently that it is “high time” that the Congress appoints a full-time president by “selection or election”.
Asked if consensus was the way forward instead of internal polls, Khurshid said, “My instinct says this. My understanding of the Congress says that consensus is extremely important.” “People react to that by saying that you are being anti-democratic. I don’t know if consensus is in some way an undemocratic thing to happen. It should be a genuine consensus. Of course, it should not be a forced consensus. I think we should give consensus a chance,” he said.
On whether polls can lead to divisiveness in the party, Khurshid said elections do divide.
Elections, in the right spirit, should not divide, but the ground reality is that elections do divide, he said.
“So, let us just hope we gradually mature to a stage where elections will not divide,” he said.
Asked if Rahul Gandhi should come back as party chief, Khurshid said it was up to him to make his decision and leaders should allow him to take a call.
“When you give someone your allegiance as a leader then you have to listen to the leader and whatever the leader wants to do. There is a view in a large number of people that he should not stay away from presidentship of the party,” he said.
Noting that Gandhi has his own reasons to keep himself away from the presidentship, Khurshid said party leaders should respect his decision and not in any way create a situation that becomes difficult for him.
“Let us wait for him to take a call, I think he understands what people’s expectations and hopes are and I think he will respond to those hopes,” he said.
Asked about Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s remarks carried in a book endorsing Rahul Gandhi’s views that the party should have a non-Gandhi president and whether that person would be under pressure of the Gandhis, Khurshid said where is the question of pressure as there “may be a president who is a non-Gandhi, but there will also be a leader who is a Gandhi”.
“Even the president will have to accept ‘the leader’ Gandhi. You cannot choose a leader who is already chosen. People have given full support and have given their endorsement to Mr Rahul Gandhi and that will remain a fact,” he said.
“Whether he (Rahul) wears the label of a president or he doesn’t wear the label of a president, he remains a leader,” Khurshid said.
If Rahul Gandhi is a leader, surely, he should also be respected for his views on what the presidential structure or what the organisational structure should be in the future, he said.
Khurshid said if Rahul Gandhi is the leader and he gives respect to a president, everybody will give respect to the president, he said.
A resolution affirming the party’s intent to make the much-needed changes may be the most likely outcome after the meeting.
Those hoping that Monday’s CWC meeting will end with the naming of a new Congress chief or in Sonia’s tenure being renewed for a full term may or may not be disappointed. It now all depends on the discussions that may cumulate in a final decision.
