Much to the conservatives’ delight, India’s most revered ‘Intellectual Giant’ is all set to take over the almost finished Scam Ridden Grand Old Party- Indian National Congress. Paradoxical as it may sound, it was revealed by Mr. Milind Deora that Rahul Gandhi will be buoyed up after the AICC ‘Elections’. It is not for the first time that such news has been floated but Shri Rahul Gandhi by the virtue of his unparalleled sense of comic timing ensured that these died as mere rumors, funny thing is that he did it all unintentionally. BUT NOT THIS TIME. Rahul has matured and his popularity now knows no bounds BECAUSE his U.C Berkeley speech is being perceived by his well-wishers as a ‘super successful’ one, we can expect Baba’s coronation any time after Diwali. Post his elevation one can witness some interesting developments in the Congress Party.
Rahul is ‘all set’ to reward the fierce loyalists of the Gandhi dynasty. It was reported that he has appointed a team of young politicians loyal to him to advise him, structure his narrative and have an uninterrupted access to him. No matter how ‘Good Happy Family’ may the INC seem, there are some serious voices of dissent within the party. In such a situation, Rahul Camp can be seen as the core team after his elevation. In the present times, Randeep Surjewala, Spokesperson of INC, Rajasthan INC president Sachin Pilot, AICC Secretary Rajiv Satav and Party’s social media head Divya Spandana can be seen as a part of Rahul’s Inner Circle.
It is reported that Randeep Surjewala has access to Rahul anytime and speaks almost daily to him on the strategy of the party. Divya Spandana’s appointment as Social Media Head of the party raised many eyebrows, it was later revealed that she was handpicked by Rahul himself. It is also reported that she has been given a free-hand on budget, something very rare to the party. This Clearly emphasises Rahul’s faith in her. Rajeev Shankarrao Satav is one of the two MP’s from Maharashtra and is known to push forward VP’s vision and is also known for his fiery debates. It was he who led the opposition on the issue of Aadhar. He is one of the four secretaries of AICC, who will also be a prominent member of Congress’s Gujarat Campaign.
Jyotiraditya Scindia, as known to many enjoys the absolute trust and friendship of the Gandhi Scion and is expected to play a larger role in Loksabha. Sachin Pilot, can also be added to the list taking into consideration the freehand that he has been given in Rajasthan. Sam Pitroda, Rajiv Gandhi’s friend and the unofficial organizer of the UC Berkeley Speech is yet another trusted aide of Rahul Gandhi, but he prefers staying in the background. Milind Deora and Shashi Tharoor too are bestowed with his trust to some extent.
We can see these young faces as the prominent faces of the Congress party if this transition indeed occurs. Rahul Gandhi doesn’t share a great rapport with the members of the Sonia Camp.
Time and again we have witnessed cold war between Sonia Loyalists and Rahul Loyalists.
One such case was of Satyavrat Chaturvedi, a Sonia Loyalist, who criticised Rahul for being incompetent. Ashish Kulkarni, another one from Sonia Camp had criticized Rahul and the party leadership, when he left the Congress Party. From his letter it was clear, that apart from the camps of mother-son duo, there are some ‘well-wishers’ of Priyanka too. We can sense that there does exist a struggle for power between the Gandhi Siblings, although the Priyanka camp is not prominent yet. Much more important is Rahul’s relation with the Congress’s old warlord and strategist Ahmed Patel, And both don’t share an amicable relationship.
During RS elections it was crystal clear, that no matter how important the election was to the Congress Party, Team Rahul wanted Patel to lose. Sonia congratulated Patel and Patel also thanked everyone along with ‘the Stupendous leadership of Rahulji’, Rahul Gandhi didn’t even bother to congratulate him and remained a mute spectator of the story. Digvijay is another king who doesn’t have a kingdom now.
So, with the prominence of Rahul Gandhi in Congress, we can expect massive changes within the party. Sonia Loyalists like Ahmed Patel, Eknath Kharge, Manish Tewari, Jairam Ramesh and also Digvijay Singh will become irrelevant. With the induction of Rahul’s People in the Party’s key posts, and Sonia’s lessened involvement in the affairs, Sonia loyalists will have to face the Music.