Road to 2024: As BJP shocks and awes with CM choices, can Congress change its old ways, faces?

Apart from the three states, would the Congress anoint a new face in Haryana, overlooking veteran Jat leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, if the party comes to power in the state next year? Would they do the same in Uttarakhand where Harish Rawat still holds considerable influence? The party’s choice in Karnataka was between Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar.

Take the case of Himachal Pradesh, where the Congress has given a new face – Sukhvinder Sukhu – a chance. But the Congress was not able to throw up new names for a long time, with Virbhadra Singh first becoming CM in 1983 and going on to occupy the post again in 1985, 1993, 2004 and 2012.

Similarly, Tarun Gogoi was Chief Minister of Assam from 2001 to 2016.

The exception perhaps was Punjab where the party removed veteran Amarinder Singh as CM and installed Charanjit Singh Channi. However, the manner in which the party executed the transition resulted in Singh’s exit from the party and the Congress’s defeat in the ensuing Assembly elections.

The situation was similar in the BJP as well till a few years ago. Shivraj Singh Chouhan had been the CM of Madhya Pradesh since 2005. Even Raman Singh was a three-time CM while Vasundhara Raje had held the top job for two terms. Narendra Modi himself had an uninterrupted run from 2001 to 2014 as Gujarat CM.

Starting 2014, the Modi-led BJP leadership installed new faces in many states — barring Madhya Pradesh, till now — overlooking entrenched leaders and powerful satraps.

The party made Jairam Thakur CM in Himachal Pradesh disregarding Prem Kumar Dhumal; Trivendra Singh Rawat, Tirath Singh Rawat and now Pushkar Singh Dhami occupied the CM’s post in Uttarakhand overlooking seasoned leaders like B C Khaduri, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. Laxmikant Parsekar in Goa (only to return to Manohar Parikkar in 2017), Yogi Aditynath in Uttar Pradesh, Raghubar Das in Jharkhand have been other “surprise” picks for CM.

A large section of the Congress argues that the BJP can experiment with CMs given the unprecedented influence Modi has on the party, owing partly because of his popularity.

This section argues that the Congress too had back in its heydays experimented, in fact recklessly, with CMs so much so that Andhra Pradesh had four – M Chenna Reddy, T Anjaiah, Bhavanam Venkatram and Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy – from 1978 to 1982, and Karnataka three from 1989 to 1994. But what is unsaid is that factional feuds played a role in those changes.

Anjaiah’s sacking perhaps was an exception. But a large section of the party believes the Congress should take a leaf from the BJP and push the envelope at least in some states.

The point one section in the Congress tries to make is that the humiliating defeats the party has faced in the three states have presented, albeit not to its liking, an opportunity to usher in a new line of leadership, but the top brass is unable to bite the bullet. And to a large extent, it is the same in some other states too.

“The BJP has shown a willingness to experiment. They have given responsibilities to new leaders…some like Parsekar in Goa, Das in Jharkhand, Trivendra and Tirath in Uttarakhand have failed but many have emerged as leaders. But, at least, the BJP leadership is showing faith in new leaders, sending a message to the party that everyone can aspire for big posts…,” a Congress leader said.

“We could not even replace Nath as MPCC president even after the defeat. He was both MPCC president and CM at one point… There is no accountability for the defeat. We are perhaps looking at the Lok Sabha elections which are round the corner. The leadership perhaps feels it is not the time to antagonise anyone…but how long will we continue to play this cautious politics…,” another leader said.

“We should have a new leadership in place in all these states… It has nothing to do with upsetting the existing leaders or veterans… If upcoming Lok Sabha elections are an excuse not to usher in a new leadership in these states… then how is it that the party continues to function without full-time incharges in many states, including Maharashtra,” another leader pointed out.

Party veterans, on the other hand, argue that new and fresh faces handpicked by Rahul Gandhi and appointed as presidents of several state units have not been able to deliver results.

The debate on the issue in the grand old party seems to be unending.