“For there must be at least 1 Gandhi”, decoding Priyanka’s quest for power while Rahul and others have quit

Following more than a month-long drama over his resignation, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday nearly put rest to all the speculations. Rahul Gandhi had posted his four-page resignation on microblogging platform Twitter and said, “It is an honor for me to serve the Congress Party, whose values and ideals have served as the lifeblood of our beautiful nation. I owe the country and my organization a debt of tremendous gratitude and love. Jai Hind”

However, the doubts over Rahul Gandhi continuing as Congress president are not totally over as the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the executive committee of the Indian National Congress is yet to accept Rahul Gandhi’s resignation. Filled with Gandhi loyalists CWC had earlier rejected the resignation tendered by Rahul Gandhi over a month ago, however, this letter is being seen as a conclusive announcement of Rahul Gandhi’s departure from the top post of the party.

Before his latest resignation letter, Rahul Gandhi had also said that no one is taking responsibility for the defeat. Following this call, a flurry of mass resignations of Congress leaders has followed citing ‘respect and honor for Rahul ji’. Around 120 Congress leaders have already signed a letter, which set in motion a campaign of voluntary resignations including Telangana in-charge Poonam Prabhakar, Bihar in-charge Virendra Rathore, Youth Congress Vice-President Srinivas, Delhi Congress Working President Rajesh Lilothia and Anil Chowdhary, Madhya Pradesh in-charge Deepak Babaria and Goa in-charge Girish Chowdhankar. Calls for the resignation of CMs of the Congress-ruled states have also been made within the party. Recently Mumbai Congress Chief Milind Deora and AICC General Secretary in-charge of western UP, Jyotiraditya Scindia has also resigned following Rahul Gandhi. Other senior leaders to have tendered their resignations include Kamal Nath, Raj Babbar and Harish Rawat.

Missing from the series of resignations is the name of newly inducted, Priyanka Vadra who was appointed as the General Secretary with the charge of eastern UP in the grand old party. It was being envisaged that appointing her as General Secretary of UP east will help achieve political wonders in the most crucial state of India since Congress’ last performance had been abysmal. Congress had lost all but two seats in the state, which were the family bastions and it was felt that the party could not possibly sink lower. But it did.

Under the watch of Priyanka Vadra, the party has lost its decades-old family bastion of Amethi to Smriti Irani. Among the UP seats where Priyanka campaigned and lost include, Daurarha, Barabanki, Unnao, Kanpur, Jhansi, Pratapgarh, Jaunpur, Kushi Nagar, Sultanpur, Bhadohi, Dumariaganj, Basti, Fatehpur and Sant Kabirnagar. Apart from the failure in UP, Priyanka’s campaigning has failed in the other states of Punjab, Assam, Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh. In the total 12 seats in which she campaigned outside UP, Congress lost in 11, including, Silchar, Ambala, Hisar, Rohtak, North East Delhi, South Delhi, Ratlam, Indore, and Mandi. In the total number of 31 seats Priyanka Vadra campaigned, the party has lost 30 of them, bringing her success rate to 3%.

Despite massive electoral failures under her watch she has not come forward with her resignation nor has any calls been coming from within the Congress to balance out the accountability on her part. While Rahul Gandhi in his resignation calls for “accountability” and taking “hard decisions”, the current developments regarding the role of Priyanka Vadra are surely distant from any accountability or hard decisions. Over decades the organizational structure of Congress has been systematically transformed from a cadre-based party to a family run show. All the important positions of the Congress’ organizational structure are predominantly decided by a group of select individuals which form the so-called Congress Working Committee. Full of Gandhi-Nehru-Vadra family loyalists, CWC of the Congress has been notorious for taking unilateral decisions based on the whims and wishes of Gandhi-Nehru family and the absence of Priyanka Vadra from the resignation scene surely reeks of hidden intent of the Congress party to keep the stronghold of Gandhi family intact over the grand old party.

Rasheed Kidwai in his article titled, “Rahul as Patriarch, Priyanka for PM and a Padyatra: The 3 Trends Emerging from Congress Hour of Crisis” in News 18 writes “It is a hush-hush plan and an open secret. In the Congress scheme of things, Priyanka Gandhi will be projected as a prime ministerial face in 2024. However, it will all depend how three people – Rahul Gandhi, his successor and Priyanka, all doing different things and playing different roles — can work together and keep the Congress motivated and in the hunt for power.”

However, for the Congress, the path without the leadership of Gandhi-Nehru-Vadra family will surely be an uphill battle. The Gandhi-Nehru-Vadra family had been a central connecting point between the various smaller political families that exist in the Congress’ organization at various state levels. Congress with its complex issues is set to be at a disadvantage in any of the scenario that plays out. If the organization gathers the courage to dislodge the Gandhi-Nehru-Vadra family from the top, a dearth of relatively credible and mass leaders will surely prove to be a major roadblock in its revival on the other hand if the family stays at the apex the downfall of the grand old party fast or slow is evidently sure.