Ideally, the Congress should have been buzzing with excitement now. In a fortnight from now, the grand old party is to undertake its biggest ever mass contact programme since Independence — a four-month march traversing 12 states by Rahul Gandhi — but the organisation is in the throes of uncertainty. And there is an eerie silence. The uncertainty is over the next Congress president, the one month window for the election of which kicked in today. The party last year had announced that a new Congress president would be elected between August 21 and September 20. With Rahul Gandhi not keen to contest and return to the helm, there is a delay in the announcement of the date-wise schedule and little clarity among leaders on how things will pan out. Leaders believe the schedule for the election of Congress president will be announced sometime next week or towards the end of August. With Rahul still reluctant, a section of the senior Congress leaders believe that the “ideal scenario” would then be for interim president Sonia Gandhi to continue leading the party till the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. But Rahul is said to be of the view that no one from the family should head the party. While leaders talk about various scenarios, the party is silent. Even Rahul’s close confidantes say the situation is fluid. “The next ten days are going to be crucial for the party. Efforts are still on to persuade Rahul to contest. If he remains resolute, then the next option is to persuade Sonia to continue. She can appoint a couple of vice presidents — a mix of young and old — for different regions to assist her. The party will remain united that way,” a state Congress president told The Indian Express. The big question is what if the family decides to tell the leadership that it would like to take a tactical retreat from presidentship? Some of the leaders believe the G23 group of leaders will put up a candidate if either Sonia or Rahul is not in the fray and a loyalist outside the family is fielded. “They have been critical of the way the party is being run but even they would accept the leadership of the Gandhis warts and all. But I don’t think they will agree to any other leader,” one leader said. “Preparations are on to field a candidate. Wait and watch. We cannot let the four-man cabal run the AICC the way they are running now,” one G23 leader said. He did not elaborate. Those who believe Rahul will not take over argue that the party’s decision to advance the Bharat yatra from October 2 to September 7 and hold a rally at the Ramlila ground on September 4 is keeping in mind Rahul’s reluctance. “Rahul not contesting will spawn theories that he is a reluctant politician… guest artiste and all. But then the answer will be before everyone’s eyes — he will be on the ground leading the padayatra walking 15-20 kilometres everyday… taking on and attacking the BJP,” one leader said. “If Rahul or any member of the family does not contest and if the schedule coincides with the yatra, it also gives him an alibi to suggest that he has no hand in the election of the next president,” one leader said. What is interesting is that even as the one-month window kicked in, there was no consensus candidate in sight with speculation on routine names including Ashok Gehlot, Mallikarjun Kharge, Meira Kumar, Kamal Nath, Ambika Soni and Mukul Wasnik. Most of the veterans seem to think that Sonia should continue. One leader, who is betting on Sonia’s continuance, believes she should do so in view of the Enforcement Directorate’s aggressive investigation into the National Herald case. Many leaders in hushed tones speculate on the ED’s next move. “I think she should continue. The ED cannot arrest a sitting Congress president. There will be huge coverage in the international media if a sitting Congress president is arrested. That will not be the case if she is a former Congress president,” one leader said.
