Leaving for greener pastures is not new to Indian politics. Rather, it is now a norm, wherein people dissatisfied with their current environment, leave the party for better prospects. However, what has happened recently in Uttar Pradesh is now sure to upset many political analysts and leave a pertinent question: Are the winds of change blowing?
In a major decision, the Congress MLA from Raebareli , Rakesh Singh and his brother Dinesh Singh, who is also the MLC from the same, have resigned from the party, accusing the party high command of being unfair in its conduct with the local leaders, neither giving them credit, nor allowing them to grow. To quote their grievances:“…The two leaders were apparently unhappy with local leaders not being given credit for their work. They also complained about how local leaders were not allowed to grow…”
According to the sources, as quoted by Firstpost, the now former Congress leaders are in talks with BJP. This is nothing new to Congress, which is facing severe allegations in connection with the infighting between the high command and local leaders. In fact, Dinesh Singh has also been suspended in the name of anti-party activities, just for raising his voice against the alleged discrimination.
While Rahul Gandhi has boasted of defeating Narendra Modi in Varanasi with a united alliance, he certainly failed to prevent the exposure of the infighting within his own party. One does not need to be an expert to know the reality of progress and development in Rae Bareli and Amethi, the long held bastion of Congress bigwigs Sonia Gandhi and her son.
Ever since Uttar Pradesh was swept by Bharatiya Janata Party in the legislative assembly elections of 2017, the facade put up by Congress stood exposed. Not only had they failed to bring any amount of change in their own constituencies, they had also gobbled up the money invested on the same. People couldn’t reconcile with the image of a party, that was for a few months ago vociferously against the incumbent party, with slogans like ‘27 saal UP behal’ (UP devastated for 27 years), to switching with ease to a coalition, chanting ‘Janta ko Yeh Saath Pasand Hai’ shamelessly.
Also, the allegations of the high command being biased against local leaders is nothing surprising, if one goes by the records of the party itself. Who can forget the way Congress struck the axe on their own foot by insulting the local stalwart Himanta Biswa Sarma from Assam, when he suggested the party to show some real strength. The rest is history, and it looks like Congress is hell bent on repeating the same in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, especially where Sonia and Rahul dread the most : their own constituencies.
With the recent resignations, this only adds a further dent into the prospects of 2019 for the Congress party, which is already under severe criticism for creating a mockery of the ‘three-hour long fast’ at Rajghat in the name of communal harmony. Though the ruling party is seemingly on the back foot, courtesy a muck-raking rape case allegation against sitting MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the resignations might provide the much needed breather for BJP in the run up to the Karnataka elections, and we have only the Congress high command to thank for that.