NORTHEAST

C.P. Joshi's role under scanner after Congress' northeast drubbing

C.P. Joshi with Rahul C.P. Joshi (right) with Rahul Gandhi at a Congress rally in Meghalaya | C.P. Joshi's Twitter profile

The Congress' electoral debacles in the northeast have brought into sharp focus the style of functioning as well as the political efficacy, or lack of it, of AICC general secretary C.P. Joshi, who is in charge of party affairs in the states in that part of the country.

As the results of the Assembly elections in the three northeastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland were announced on March 3, it emerged that the Congress had been whitewashed in Tripura and Nagaland but had a fighting chance of forming a government in Meghalaya.

Perhaps not willing to have a repeat of Manipur and Goa, where the BJP managed to form the government despite the Congress being the single-largest party, in Meghalaya, the Congress rushed senior leaders Kamal Nath and Ahmed Patel to Shillong.

This is being read as the party leadership's wariness about leaving the post-results machinations to Joshi alone.

There were complaints after the Manipur debacle that Joshi, former PCC chief of Rajasthan and a former Union minister, who is said to be close to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, had not been fast off the blocks in ensuring that the Congress got the necessary numbers to form the government after it emerged as the single-largest party in a hung Assembly last year, leaving it to the state leadership to reach out to other parties.

Joshi has not been popular with the local Congress units of the states that he has been given the charge of.

In Assam, he was criticised for not properly handling the rebellion by Himanta Biswa Sarma, who later quit the Congress to join the BJP. Sarma is now the BJP's chief strategist in the northeast region, and is credited with the success that the saffron party has made electorally in the region.

Recently, Nagaland Congress president Kew Khape Therie went public with his criticism of Joshi, accusing him of showing scant interest in the affairs of the party in the state. He squarely blamed Joshi for the party failing to win a single seat in the state.

A major complaint of the Congress leaders in the northeast has been that Joshi has not visited the states in the region enough and has not held enough consultations with them.

Even in Bihar, where former PCC chief Ashok Choudhary recently quit the Congress along with three other MLCs to join the JD(U), Joshi was blamed for the development. Choudhary accused Joshi of having used him and his party colleagues, and not giving them their due.

“Joshi was kind of pushing me out of the Congress,” said Choudhary.

It remains to be seen if Joshi, who is said to be overburdened with states, will be divested of some of his responsibilities. Gandhi is said to be keen on general secretaries holding charge of only one state.