On Cong’s mind ahead of plenary, CWC elections and Opp unity formula, plus a role for Rahul Gandhi

In that regard, the key developments to watch out for are whether the leadership will allow elections to the Congress Working Committee (CWC), and what will be the Congress’s formulation on coming together of Opposition parties to take on the BJP unitedly. Many in the Congress believe the party should send out a loud and clear message that the party is ready to enter into strategic alliances in many states.

Let’s consider elections to the CWC first. At its Chintan Shivir in Udaipur last year, the Congress declared that it will ensure that 50 per cent of the members of the CWC are below the age of 50. Moreover, it pledged to ensure that its leadership at all levels reflects social reality. In its words, this meant “just and fair representation to Dalits, Adivasis, backward classes, minorities and women”.

There is much talk in the party now on these two points.

As per the Congress constitution, the CWC shall consist of the president of the party, its leader in Parliament, and 23 other members, of whom 12 will be elected by the AICC and the rest shall be appointed by the party president.

Many leaders, mostly critics of the leadership, feel that the Chintan Shivir’s talk of “fair representation” was another way of scuttling elections to the CWC.

Recall the famous Tirupati AICC session of the Congress in 1992 when P V Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister and the party president. The elections to the CWC saw some of Rao’s detractors such as Arjun Singh, Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot winning. The politically wily Rao then got the entire elected CWC to resign, saying: “I am unhappy that neither a woman nor a Harijan or a tribal was elected to the CWC.” He added: “I would have resigned my membership in favour of a woman or a member of the weaker sections.”

This left the CWC members little choice but to resign. Rao then reconstituted the CWC, inducting Arjun Singh and Pawar but in the nominated category, hence diluting their legitimacy.

This time, will the Gandhis and party president Mallikarjun Kharge proceed with the elections, or will the need for adequate social, youth and geographical representation see them again avoid the same? Or will they hold the elections after putting in place a quota for these sections in the elected and nominated categories? Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has already called for inclusion of younger leaders in the top decision-making body.

The G23 ginger group, which had raised the hackles of the leadership by calling for, among other things, elections to the CWC and the central election committee, and for revival of the Parliamentary Board for collective decision-making, is non-existent now – meaning there is no pressure for it from within.

Plus, many feel, the party may no longer have the stomach for elections in the near future after the contest for party president some months ago which saw its own share of drama.

The second, and perhaps more critical, question which the Congress needs to hammer out is its approach towards Opposition unity. The party made it clear on Sunday that it was not enamoured by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s comment that he was waiting for a signal from the Congress to work towards bringing Opposition parties together. Jairam Ramesh asserted that the Congress is the only party to have not “compromised” with the BJP and “knows its role very well”, and that Opposition unity would neither be possible nor successful without the Congress.

The message was that while the party’s numbers may have shrunk and regional parties gained in strength, the Congress had to be the central pole around which Opposition unity could be built. Any alliance without a central role for the Congress would not be credible and lack political heft, the party suggested.

But, many parties disagree. On Sunday, Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said that voting for the Congress was like voting for the BJP as it strengthens the BJP hand.

Many leaders in the Congress also believe the party should look for strategic engagement with some of the regional parties. According to them, the Congress should focus on about 300-odd seats, and allow regional parties more sway in states where they are strong. Last time, the Congress contested in 421 seats, won 52 and forfeited deposit in 148.

“In Uttar Pradesh, we should not be contesting in all the seats. Same is the case with West Bengal.We are not in a position to win much in these states. In Bihar and Maharashtra, we are already part of multi-party coalitions. We should agree to settle for a few seats. If we send a signal that we don’t have a problem with not contesting in all the seats in UP or, say, Bengal, it will send a positive message,” a leader said.

Instead, the leader said: “We should focus all our might in states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh etc, where we are the only force which can take on the BJP.”

About Rahul and his yatra, many leaders believe while the trek has been a success, the party lacks a story. “The Yatra has set the tone, we need to capitalise on the positive narrative. We need to come out with an alternative vision. Rahul has been talking about an alternative vision, but we should wait to spell it out in our manifesto. We need to come out with a comprehensive document, addressing the aspirations of the people, rather than merely producing resolutions criticising the Narendra Modi government,” another leader said.