The only message that has emanated from the meeting of senior Congress leaders with poll consultant Prashant Kishor is that the 137-year-old party was incapable of finding anyone from its ranks to lay out the future blueprint to take on the BJP. Giving so much importance to PK, who has worked previously with the BJP, Trinamool Congress, Janata Dal (United), YSR Congress, DMK and several other outfits is, that the insecure Gandhis have no faith in their own colleagues and were willing to gamble their future on the suggestions provided by `outsiders’ whose political credentials and loyalties continue to be doubtful.
Prashant Kishor, aka PK, does not have any magic wand and cannot transform the fortunes of the grand old party unless, the leadership realizes that the fault lies within and the inability of the High Command to identify the correct functionaries to accomplish the challenging tasks. The main thrust has to be on building the organization since none exists in several parts of the country and neither PK nor anyone can help in this except the Congress leaders themselves. Not all the Kings Horses, Nor all the King’s men (including PK) can put Humpty Dumpty together again. The approach of the Gandhis is flawed since they have surrounded themselves with sycophants or are highly dependent on the Google generation to bail the party out of its present troubles. There are leaders close to the Gandhi siblings who resort to Google search in order to ascertain the antecedents of some of the leaders or ticket aspirants. The Gandhis have overriding Veto powers in decisions and thus after being prompted by the Chamchas, often prefer losers over the winners while distributing tickets. It is well known how the High Command could squander the advantage the party has in both Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka as it refuses to see the reality as it exists.
In Himachal which is a Rajput-dominated region, the party is considering a Brahmin for the leadership role. In Karnataka, where Siddaramaiah is the most popular leader, it is giving weightage to his rival DK Shiva Kumar, a Vokkaliga instead of bringing in a prominent Lingayat to pose the challenge to the BJP, which too is on verge of replacing Basavaraj Bommai, probably with former Chief Minister and respected Lingayat leader, Jagadish Shettar. The Congress must understand that the time for optics is over and political consultants like PK, considered by many within their own party as political mercenaries cannot change the fortune unless, Congress becomes a more viable organization. There is a problem in Haryana where an attempt is being made to weaken the Hoodas, the only mass-based leaders, by nominating Kumari Selja to the Rajya Sabha and providing a prominent role to Kuldeep Bishnoi. In fact, the Rajya Sabha seat can be given to Ambika Soni, who continues to be the only senior leader who defends the Gandhis in the meetings of the Working Committee, a body where despite having its own nominees, the current leadership does not have any true faithful followers. By inviting PK to join, the Gandhis are inadvertently admitting that the CWC is devoid of members who can help the party with its strategy. Punjab has been frittered away and the obsession of the Gandhi siblings with the Jholewalas is hurting the party elsewhere also.
Amongst the factors that contributed to the decimation of the UPA government in 2014 was that Sonia Gandhi, who headed the NAC, a key body advising the ministers on primary affairs, filled it with non-party Persons. Anyone who has observed Congress closely over the past several decades would testify that the party has its own kind of working mechanisms that cannot be understood by outsiders. Therefore, to expect PK, to do something dramatic is like living in a fool’s paradise. From PK’s point of view, his being offered a prominent position, may raise his stock politically. But for him to expect Congress activists to cooperate with his team, would be a challenge in itself. On Saturday, the leaders who were called to attend the meeting included A.K.Antony, former Defence Minister and a close confidant of Sonia Gandhi, who has already declared that he was retiring from active politics. Although G-23 leaders were ignored by and large, but Mukul Wasnik was perhaps the only one amongst the attendees who has vast organizational experience and thus can be an asset. Congress has to win the elections to be counted amongst the challengers. It has reached such a stage where it could even lose the remaining party bastion, Rae Bareilly in the next Parliamentary polls. The supreme irony for the party was that Shatrughan Sinha who was fielded by the Congress from Patna and lost in 2019, emerged victorious as the Trinamool Congress candidate from Asansol on Saturday. It shows that the game had swung away from the Congress, whose pivot status amongst the parties opposed to the BJP is itself in danger.
This position cannot be restored by PK. One fails to understand that when the Congress has minds such as Kamal Nath, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and countless others including the Youth Congress president, B.V.Sriniwas, why must it try and outsource the party to outsiders. The repercussions of the decision on PK would be felt in 2024 when the Congress could actually be on its way to helping the ruling dispensation to make the country, Congress Mukt. The party can only be resuscitated if the Gandhis take a sabbatical and the reason why they want PK is that they do not trust their present colleagues.