‘Conscience vote’ in RS poll hurts Congress

Rashid Kidwai

Senior Journalist and Author

THE outcome of the Rajya Sabha polls has been a setback for the Congress due to its failure to get Ajay Maken elected from Haryana. The Congress central leadership is likely to sweep the defection and cross-voting in Haryana under the carpet. However, this ostrich-like approach would not help the party’s cause.

Faulty selection of Rajya Sabha nominees, overdependence on regional satraps and the inability to enforce discipline or accountability have brought the Congress to a sorry state of affairs once again.

In Haryana, the party leadership has been experimenting a lot and trying to strike a balance between the pro and anti-Bhupinder Singh Hooda factions. But in effect, it has gained little. Things came to such a pass that a Rajya Sabha nominee, Randeep Singh Surjewala, had to be taken away from Haryana to get elected from Rajasthan simply because a regional satrap had vetoed his candidature from the home state.

Maken’s defeat is a personal setback for the Gandhis — both Sonia and Rahul. Maken, a politician from Delhi, is considered one of the effective AICC functionaries who rose from student politics, became a part of NSUI and Youth Congress before becoming an MLA and MP. The rise of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi and successive electoral defeats had forced Maken to look for a Rajya Sabha berth. Stung by Maken’s defeat, the Congress high command cracked the whip, though half-heartedly, as Kuldeep Bishnoi was expelled from all party posts.

Many questions are bound to be asked. If Hooda had given an assurance to the Gandhis that he would ensure Maken’s victory, how would the Congress high command react to him now? Dissenter Bishnoi has gone on record over his failure to meet Rahul Gandhi. While Bishnoi may himself opt for “greener pastures” or the Congress acts against his reported cross-voting, Rahul Gandhi cannot escape the responsibility of keeping a section of the party dissatisfied. Bizarre as it may sound, Bishnoi had demanded a meeting with Rahul before the Haryana Rajya Sabha vote.

In Maharashtra, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has also gone on record to say that he has, for the past four years, been waiting to get an audience with Rahul Gandhi. These comments indicate that within the Congress circles, getting an appointment with Rahul is still at a premium and Gandhis themselves consider giving time to party leaders as a sign of ‘favour’. The working style of Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi and even Indira Gandhi had been drastically different. They used to relish meeting party leaders of all hue and shades and often benefited from getting “genuine feedback” and divergent views about the party/government programmes, policies, issues etc. Rahul’s uncle, father and grandmother had tremendous recall value and often themselves asked party leaders from various states to visit Delhi and meet them to discuss “areas of mutual interest”. In the pre-mobile phones and e-mail era, Vincent George, a close Rajiv aide, was famed to track down any party leader within half an hour or so.

The tardy handling of the Rajya Sabha election would hound the Gandhis for a while. In Rajasthan, the party fielded and managed to ensure win of three “outsiders” — Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tiwari. But this development, paradoxically, would further stoke factionalism in the state unit. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s camp thinks it has reasons to be confident about continuation of the chief minister, having “delivered the task” of getting nominees for the Upper House through. But supporters of aspirant Sachin Pilot differ on grounds that the Rajya Sabha poll success was a ‘team effort’. The Pilot camp has been claiming that an assurance of sorts has been given to them that prior to the 2023 Assembly polls, a change of guard would take place. Would Gandhis take the call to change Gehlot? If they fail to fulfil the reported promise to Pilot, what would he do? These questions have no easy answers unless the Gandhis decide to requisition Gehlot’s services in the organisational polls scheduled to be held in September this year.

The Gandhis have a heavy agenda to reform the Congress. Post Udaipur Chintan Shivir, the party needs to summon an AICC session to ratify decisions taken at Udaipur. Measures such as giving 50 per cent tickets to those under 50 years of age, empowerment of weaker sections, Dalits, restricting two Rajya terms, one family one vote and other suggestions have little meaning unless they get a seal of approval from the AICC. In some instances, the Congress would need amendments in the party Constitution too. But so far, there is no talk about it. Perhaps the leadership is thinking of clubbing all these issues after the party polls when it becomes mandatory for the party to summon the AICC. Until then, ad-hocism, hits and misses may continue. 

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