From Sachin Pilot to Milind Deora, Scindia’s resignation could trigger an exodus of sidelined talent from the Congress

After Jyotiraditya Scindia’s sensational resignation from the grand old party of Congress on Holi, the party has plunged into a deep crisis in Madhya Pradesh with the Chief Minister Kamalnath all set to lose his power after 22 MLA’s deserted him and went with the Scindia clan. But the trouble is not only brewing in MP, the tremors of charismatic Scindia leaving the party might be felt in the coming days across all state Congress-units. In a massive development, Scindia on Tuesday reached out to 5-6 young leaders in the Congress after tendering his resignation, as per sources.

Sources further report that those among whom Scindia has allegedly contacted are Rajasthan Deputy CM Sachin Pilot, former Union Ministers RPN Singh, Milind Deora, Jitin Prasada, Haryana MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi and others – all close aides of former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. Scindia himself is likely to join the BJP on 12 March and will also reportedly file for Rajya Sabha nomination on 13 March.

It seems like Congress’ young stalwarts are ready to jump the sinking ship that is Congress. With Scindia taking a quick exit, an example has been set that the young guns are vying for more power and responsibility and are not afraid to take the road less travelled.

After Scindia made it clear in his resignation letter that the party was not aligning with his thoughts and that he was being put in the back seat for far too long, a domino effect is waiting to happen in the wings. His resignation could lead to an exodus of next-Gen party leaders who are continuously being sidelined and feel alienated. Jyotiraditya Scindia is at the peak of his political career. He is not an unsuccessful, incapable dynast like Rahul Gandhi and enjoys significant popularity in the Guna region.

The manner in which 22 MLAs deserted the Congress in a heartbeat and went with Scindia shows the kind of political clout he enjoys. And just like him, many young Congress leaders are just a nudge away from quitting the outfit. Funnily enough, the Congress leadership like an Ostrich hid its face in the ground and announced it had expelled Scindia for anti-party activities.

The political power tussle going on between Sachin Pilot (young-Turk) and Ashok Gehlot (old-dynast) is not hidden from anyone. Pilot just like Scindia was undermined by the party high command when Gehlot was chosen over him as the state Chief Minister. The veiled attacks and war of words has continued ever since. While senior leadership remains aloof of these conflicts, the animosity between the two leaders grows by the day. The central leadership of the Congress is vulnerable before Gehlot who enjoys the confidence of the Gandhi family. Pilot has been repeatedly given the cold shoulder on several occasions and it’s only a matter of time when he deserts the party. The Scindia-gate might just act as a catalyst for Pilot who would be keeping a hawk-like eye on the proceedings.

Pilot enjoys great popularity in the region and has a good amount of following and unlike Congress, BJP rewards the young and newcomers. 

Kuldeep Bishnoi, 51, one of the Congress’ young Haryana leaders and son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, tweeted Tuesday about alleged resentment and disillusionment among Congress leaders across the country. “Like him, there are many other devoted INC leaders across the country who feel alienated, wasted & discontented,” Bishnoi added.

Like in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress in Haryana is witnessing an alleged tussle over nominations to the Rajya Sabha and Bishnoi’s tweet is being seen in that light. The drama of who gets the coveted Rajya Sabha seat in Haryana has embroiled everybody from the party in power to the opposition (Read: Hooda) and Bishnoi is not happy with the top brass of Congress on how it is dealing with the whole situation.

Bishnoi, who is a four-time legislator and has remained the Lok Sabha MP twice, had floated his outfit the Haryana Janhit Congress over 10 years ago when the Congress high command picked Hooda over Bhajan Lal for the chief minister’s post in 2005.

The Bishnois have always had a love-hate relationship with Congress but if the recent tweets are any indication, young Kuldeep is inclining towards the latter part of this love-hate saga. Interestingly, Last year, Bishnoi had termed the scrapping of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 a good decision, which was against the Party line chain of commandments.

Following Congress’ disastrous outing in Delhi Assembly polls, Maharashtra Congress leader, Milind Deora had tweeted about Kejriwal government’s “fiscal prudence” and got called out by Congress leader Ajay Maken. The in-fighting amongst the party members came out in the open and the bitter exchange of tweets showed that all is not well within the party.

The examples are plenty where young blood of Congress has called out its old rear guards for their incompetency. Congress leader, Jaiveer Shergill did not miss the opportunity and took a subtle jibe at Congress party leader P. Chidambaram celebrating AAP’s victory in Delhi last month. Leaders like Kamalnath, Digvijay Singh and P. Chidambaram are the reason Congress’ fortunes have been going down the drain.

Congress leadership is running around like a headless chicken, with no vision and direction. The party its leader Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are nowhere to be seen near the conundrum. The forever-young Mr. Gandhi has been quietly neglecting the murmurs of discontent within its own ranks for months and even amidst the midnight drama of MP, his presence has been zilch.  One can understand Rahul Gandhi might be busy planning another getaway vacation to another exotic country, but clearly, he can leave it for the time being.

At the end of the day, leaders like Scindia, Pilot, Bishnoi, and Deora realize that Congress is all about one family and that making to the top in such a toxic environment is neither possible nor worth the efforts. With dwindling popularity and joke of a leadership, it’s not BJP who is championing the cause of Congress Mukt Bharat, its Congress which itself is on a self-destruction spree. Godspeed and Amen for team TFI.