Such a mute spectacle

No, for the moment anyway, Karuppiah Moopanar won’t lead his men awayfrom Karunanidhi. He has even stated that the TMC has no plan to return to the parent party after the elections. So much for Tamil Nadu, but which are the "other states" that Chidambaram mentioned?

Definitely not Madhya Pradesh, judging by the attitude of Sonia Gandhi’s param-bhakt Arjun Singh. In the last election the Thakur from Satna was beaten by both the BJP and the BSP candidates on his own turf. But in 1996 he was in the Congress (T), lacking whatever little protection the Congress(I) hand might have given.

Arjun Singh now has the reunited Congress behind him. He has been assured by Kanshi Ram that the BSP won’t put up any candidate against him. Above all, he has convinced his goddess to hit the election trail.

He slinks away to a "safe seat" in Hoshangabad, that’s what he does. That is not a sign of confidence in the Nehru-Gandhi family’s vote-catching abilities.

Of course, Madhya Pradesh is a stronghold of the BJP, so there is some excuse when this scion of the Rajputs displays a clean pair of heels. But that isn’t true of, say, Kerala — a state where the BJP failed to poll even 10 percent of the votes in 1996.

Yet even in Kerala I find senior Congress leaders, even vocal Nehru-Gandhi loyalists, strangely reluctant to contest seats lost by the narrowest of margins. In 1996, Thrissur provided a cliffhanger of a contest, with the advantage teetering from the Congress to the Left and back again. Ultimately, however, the Congress’s veteran campaigner K. Karunakaran lost the fight.

I personally believe that Kerala is a state where Sonia Gandhi genuinely has a chance to make a difference. But that assessment clearly isn’t shared by Karunakaran.

Kerala isn’t a state that sees massive swings in voting patterns. The margins between the Left and the Congress are generally less than 10 percent. What is more, the ruling CPI(M) isn’t its old disciplined self, with the new boss, Achuthanandan, gunning for the trade unionists in the CITU.

Given all this, Sonia Gandhi could tilt the scales in favour ofher faithful. But ‘Leader’ (his followers’ preferred term for Karunakaran) is reluctant to test his fortunes in Thrissur again even if the ‘Supreme Leader’ is willing to campaign.

What of that other bastion of the Left, West Bengal? To be honest, Sonia Gandhi is no match for the venerable Jyoti Basu. But couldn’t she at least do a better job of bringing home the prodigals from the Trinamool Congress?

One or two of the rebels have returned, but not Mamata Bannerjee and Mani Shankar Aiyar.

How about the two largest states in the country? I used to believe the Congress couldn’t possibly do worse in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar than in the Rao era. Well, I was wrong.

For the first time in the history of the party, the Congress has conceded the majority of Bihar’s 54 seats to its allies. (Ally-in-chief Laloo Prasad Yadav reciprocated by advising Sonia Gandhi to stay at home.) As for giant Uttar Pradesh, well, I think the BJP’s performance in the Legislative Council polls speaks for itself.

I could go on with a state-by-state analysis, but why bother? The point is that every Congress worker insists that the arrival of Sonia Gandhi will make a difference for the better – except in his/her own state.

But let us dig a little deeper: forget the average Congressman, is Sonia Gandhi sure of herself? Why is she shying away from contesting from Amethi? Why is she so reluctant to assume the presidency of the Congress? Why is she refusing to be described as the Congress candidate for Prime Minister?Everything about Sonia Gandhi betrays a ‘leader’ utterly unconvinced of her own abilities. She doesn’t, to name but one point, dare to address a press conference. Is she, perhaps, scared of facing questions about her stewardship of the various cash-cow trusts she controls?An election is supposed to be a dialogue between the electorate and the would-be rulers. But Sonia Gandhi doesn’t seem to accept that. Her idea of campaigning is to orate from fifteen minutes to half an hour from a platform. That isn’t a dialogue, dear Congressmen, it is a sermon from the mountain.

By the way, judging by the Sriperumbudur performance, Sonia Gandhi desperately needs to find better speechwriters. A programme beginning and ending with "Thou shalt vote for the Congress" without explaining why isn’t terribly inspiring. Not even if those words are then echoed in Priyanka Vadra’s chastest Tamil.

I have never seen a more peculiar campaign conducted by the mighty Congress. The party president is almost entirely absent from its posters and its platforms. Meanwhile, the chief campaigner, the "inspiration" of the Congress, is hiding from the media. And both coyly refuse to stand for election.

Frankly, Narasimha Rao comes off better by comparison. Amazingly, he is still ready to face his old constituents — if his graceless enemies in the CWC give him the chance. Can any of those megaphone-mouthed Sonia Gandhi bhakts — the Thakur of Satna comes to mind — dare to do so?

Chidambaram is probably correct in that Sonia Gandhi isn’t a factor in Tamil Nadu. But if even old friends in the TMC aren’t swayed by her, what makes Congressmen assume that ordinary voters shall fall at her feet?