On Sunday the 22nd of July, the newly appointed Congress Working Committee, recently reshuffled at the behest of Congress President Rahul Gandhi and headed by his mother Sonia Gandhi, announced that the Congress President Rahul Gandhi would be the party’s prime ministerial candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. This decision failed to create a stir in the political and social circles as it was a mere approval of what the people were expecting since ages. The ‘blue eyed’ 48 year old ‘boy’ and the ‘prodigal’ son of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has been named by his mother led CWC to carry on the family business of the Congress Party. The reactions from former allies of the Congress party simply showed how much faith they had in Rahul Gandhi. No party other than Janata Dal (Secular) came out in support of the CWC announcement. Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda spoke in Delhi that he had no qualms about Rahul leading the joint opposition. The sad part is that no other former ally supported this statement made by H D Deve Gowda. Bihar’s RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav was quick to point out that there were many probable candidates for the PM post in the opposition.
Tejashwi Yadav said, “Has the person (Rahul) officially announced that he is the PM candidate? Nonetheless, Mamata Banerjee (TMC), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Mayawati (BSP) as well as Rahul Gandhi, all can become PM. I don’t have reservations on any name.” His statements point towards a subtle disapproval to the PM candidature announcement by the CWC. A definite blow to the Congress President’s future PM nomination was also delivered by Mamata Banerjee who refused to speak anything on the issue. TMC leader Derek O’Brien too refused to comment anything in support of Rahul and instead said, “Why would we comment on a matter which is strictly an internal matter of another political party?” While Samajwadi Party spokesperson too indicated that all was not well with its former ally. The SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said, “Our national President has clarified time and again that the PM candidate for the opposition or the alliance parties will be chosen after the election results are announced.” Another senior leader from the BSP who chose to remain anonymous said that the PM candidate would be decided by the party president Mayawati.
The support of JDS cannot be weighed too heavily since it is at the mercy of the Congress that H D Deve Gowda’s son H D Kumaraswamy is ruling in Karnataka. At the national level too JDS has no strong leader and it has no option than to support Congress’ decision in this respect but the same is not the case with other parties. With its pitiable condition in most of the states in India, the Congress will face difficulties in pacifying its former allies to accept Rahul Gandhi as the PM candidate. The upcoming Lok Sabha 2019 elections will be a battle for the Congress where it will fight to survive in the political scene of India but ambitions of its President could prove to be detrimental for the party. The hopes for the united third front or the joint opposition too seem to be shattering with less than a year to go for the Lok Sabha 2019 elections. Rahul Gandhi’s incompetence seems to have cleared the minds of its allies who are now looking to make their own mark in the upcoming elections. Accepting CWC decision could surely lead to their early defeat and this is precisely what they are looking to evade.