Although Congress circles are constantly abuzz with talks about party vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s elevation, media reports on the Nehru-Gandhi scion’s coronation last week had an unusual urgency about them. While the speculation raged on through the day, senior party leaders, including those who are usually in the know of such matters, feigned ignorance about these reports. According to Congress insiders, these reports were actually put out by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in an effort to put an end to recent speculation that she is set to join politics and that she will begin by undertaking an extensive campaign in next year’s UP Assembly polls.
Ms Vadra’s office apparently swung into action following the growing demand from party cadres for her induction into politics. This was her way to put an end to these demands and to send out the message that Mr Gandhi is the party’s heir-apparent. The pro-Priyanka camp in the Congress will certainly be disappointed as they have been pitching for her in the interest of their own political survival. There are others who believe these reports were meant to deflect attention from the revelations about Robert Vadra’s suspected benami property in London.
The annual meeting of all Indian heads of mission posted across the world, which concluded in Delhi recently, was initially slated to be held in Mussoorie. Preparations for this meeting began months in advance as Prime Minister Modi and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj were to address the Indian envoys. The venue was decided when Uttarakhand was under President’s Rule and the ruling BJP was hoping to form its own government in the hill state. However, it was subsequently decided to shift the meeting out of Mussoorie.
No explanations were offered for this change of plans, but according to the grapevine, the decision was taken after the BJP suffered a huge embarrassment when it lost the court-monitored trust vote in the Uttarakhand Assembly. The BJP, especially Mr Modi, apparently wanted to use the annual heads of mission meeting to make a splash in Uttarakhand as the party was working on a plan to advance next year’s Assembly election in the state. In fact, the BJP was desperate to wrest Uttarakhand from the Congress in an early poll in a bid to keep the momentum going in the run-up to the 2017 Assembly poll in UP.
Former Chhattisgarh CM Ajit Jogi, who has been on the warpath since he fell out of favour with Congress leadership over a decade ago, has been toying with the idea of floating a third front for some time now, but he held off in the hope that the party would nominate him for the lone Chhattisgarh seat for the June 11 RS election. He realised that early rehabilitation is not on the cards as neither he nor his camp follower was nominated for this seat. Consequently, the former CM declared his intention to chart an independent course.
Mr Jogi wants the Congress to declare him as the party’s CM candidate in Chhattisgarh and rehabilitate his MLA son Amit Jogi who was expelled following reports that the father-son duo had allegedly offered money to a Congress candidate to withdraw from a bypoll in Chhattisgarh two years ago. Prime Minister Modi has promised to deliver a “Congress-mukt” Bharat. While he may succeed in fulfilling this promise in the months ahead, one state has already become “Congress-mukt”. After losing all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 election, the GOP has no representation from Rajasthan in the LS.
After the June 11 RS election, the Congress will have no member from the desert state in the RS either. With only 21 legislators in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, the Congress is in no position to get its candidate elected to the RS. However, it has decided to create problems for the BJP by backing Independent Kamal Morarka. The Congress is hoping that Mr Morarka will be able to win the support of seven independent MLAs as well as some rebel BJP legislators.
