Even as the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meets at 4pm on Sunday to discuss the party's drubbing in five state elections, influential voices in the party have begun reiterating their trust in the Gandhi family.
Since the Congress party's humiliating performance in the recent elections, it was expected calls for reforms and internal elections for a full-time party chief would get louder. Sonia Gandhi has been interim chief of the Congress since 2019. The electoral setbacks were expected to lead to demands for the Gandhi family—Sonia and her children Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra—to cede more control.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday told ANI Rahul should become party chief. Rahul had resigned as party chief after the Congress lost in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Gehlot told ANI “For the last three decades, nobody from the Gandhi family became a PM or a minister. It is significant to understand that the Gandhi family is important for Congress' unity.”
Gehlot blamed internal dissension in Punjab for the Congress's failure to return to power in the state. He told ANI “In 2017, Congress was united and we won. After [Charanjit Singh] Channi became the CM, the environment was conducive too but it was our mistake that due to internal conflict we lost assembly elections in Punjab.” The frequent tiffs between Navjot Singh Sidhu and chief ministers Amarinder Singh and Charanjit Singh Channi are believed to have eroded the credibility of the Congress in Punjab.
Gehlot also argued religious polarisation had affected the results. He said “Politics of polarisation is easier. BJP propagated Congress as a Muslim party on social media. Our way is to maintain integrity and unity of the country. During polls, religion comes to forefront while issues of inflation and jobs take a back seat for BJP.”
Another Congress functionary, B.V. Srinavas, who is national president of the Youth Congress, emphasised the legacy of the Gandhi family. Srinivas tweeted images of the saree worn by then prime minister Indira Gandhi when she was assassinated in 1984 and the clothes and shoes worn by Rajiv Gandhi when he was killed in 1991.
Srinivas said “There have been many conspiracies to erase this heritage [of Gandhi family], which has sacrificed everything for the integrity of the country, but never succeeded. Gandhi family is the thread holding not only the Congress but all the sections of the country in a garland, whose existence does not depend on... electoral victory...”
