Congress awaits Gandhis’ role call on Priyanka

Aditi Tandon in New Delhi

The day Rahul Gandhi resigned, he told colleagues that the next Congress president should be a non-Gandhi. Seventy-one days down the line, not many Congress persons seem to be listening. As the party prepares for another Congress Working Committee meeting to formalise the search for the successor, the clamour for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as her brother’s replacement is growing louder.

The demand first raised by Anil Shastri and Abhijit Mukherjee, the sons of the late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and former President Pranab Mukherjee, respectively, became weighty last week with Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh joining the chorus.

“Priyanka is ideally suited to head the party which needs a dynamic young leader to rebuild it after the Lok Sabha election loss. She has the intelligence and instinct to understand and relate to the needs of the nation and also has the courage to take on any challenge and take the fight to victory,” said Singh, known for his closeness to the Gandhi family as well as his brutally honest brand of politics.

With top leaders making pro-Priyanka noises, the ball is back in the court of the Gandhis, who must decide whether to play it or let it fall.

No one in the party has doubts about Priyanka’s ability to lead. Majority would like her to fill the void that Rahul’s prolonged absence has left. But no one is sure whether this is the right time. Priyanka officially joined the Congress as AICC general secretary this January and is just seven months old in the party.

CWC member and Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana, Kumari Selja says she can’t rule out a future role for Priyanka but senses a reluctance on the part of the Gandhis to accept a leadership role at the moment.

“There is a desire that someone from the family should lead. Many of us wanted UPA chief Sonia Gandhi to step in the interim but she appears reluctant and current indications are that the family doesn’t want to assume the leadership position. Priyanka is doing more than full justice to her assigned role of AICC general secretary, Eastern UP. She is the most active general secretary of AICC. I won’t rule out a future role for her because she has all the qualities. But, as of now, the family seems reluctant,” Selja said.

There’s however a sentiment in the Congress that a non-Gandhi president is Rahul Gandhi’s wish which the CWC may or may not accept. Congress Lok Sabha MPs have repeatedly urged him to end the ongoing impasse by either himself returning to the helm or installing someone else.

“The fact that the CWC has not met since May 25, let alone find a new Congress president, shows that the Gandhi family is co-terminus with the party. Otherwise an interim chief would have been chosen. There is delay because there is lack of consensus on the successor,” a former minister said, adding that the family will be fully involved in future decisions.

“A major reason for the stalemate is who will bell the cat? The interim chief will one day have to vacate the place for the family,” says a Congress source. 

That explains why party workers are openly rooting for Priyanka. They feel the Gandhis should continue because eventually they will return.

“Workers see a future in Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. She has the charisma; she speaks well and connects well. She has all the makings of a leader but whether she steps in at this moment is a call for the family to take,” the AICC in-charge of Punjab, Asha Kumari, notes.

First-time Congress MPs are also unanimous in their view of either of the siblings as their chief. “Now that Rahulji has stepped back, Priyanka Gandhi alone can unify the party. She has age on her side and is a mass leader. Workers need her,” says Jasbir Singh Dimpa, Congress MP from Khadoor Sahib.

Internally though, most seniors are intrigued at the pro-Priyanka voices because they feel she need not position herself to get the post. “The question is whether Priyanka Gandhi wants the role. If she does, it is hers for the asking and she need not position herself for it. But if she does not, the selection of the new Congress president should not be a function of anyone’s age. It should only be a function of acceptability and credibility,” says party veteran Ashwani Kumar.

Meanwhile, old-timers say Sonia Gandhi won’t replace one sibling with another at this juncture. “Replacing Rahul Gandhi with Priyanka will be an admission of his failure as party chief. Everyone in the Congress knows how Sonia Gandhi has been waiting for her son to reconsider his resignation. That appears impossible now and she is clearly distraught. But whether she allows her daughter to replace the son is a million-dollar question. Knowing Sonia Gandhi’s affection for the son, it is unlikely,” a Congress insider says.

An interesting insight into how Sonia Gandhi continues to assert herself in Rahul’s absence came from the Lok Sabha recently. She directed her MPs to move an adjournment motion on the issue of US President Donald Trump offering to negotiate in Kashmir and declined a proposal for an adjournment motion on the Sonbhadra violence — a cause Priyanka Gandhi was personally leading.

On all major trips in UP recently, Priyanka has ensured that she credits Rahul Gandhi for everything she does. “In Sonbhadra, she told people that Rahul had sent her. In the May 25 CWC meeting, Priyanka took up the cudgels with Congress seniors for her brother and complained that no one stood with Rahul during the Lok Sabha campaign. Her affection for the brother is visible. Given the family equation, it appears unlikely that Priyanka will accept the Congress chief’s post even if offered. That may be a matter for the future but doesn’t appear to be an immediate agenda,” a CWC member said.

No wonder then that when Congress general secretaries met last week to discuss the CWC schedule, Priyanka told the leaders not to flag her name and “leave her out of the Congress presidency race”.

Does she mean it? Only time will tell considering that the chorus for Priyanka as the Congress chief has grown only after July 18 when she posted a tweet publicly airing her political ambitions. 

“The world misses men like Nelson Mandela more than ever today. His life was a testament to truth, love and freedom. To me, he was Uncle Nelson (who told me I ought to be in politics long before anyone else did!). He will always be my inspiration,” Priyanka said on the 101th birth anniversary of the late anti-apartheid leader.