The Congress leadership which glossed over the rebellion brewing in Chhattisgarh for over two years has finally acted clearing the proposal to make health minister T.S. Singh Deo deputy chief minister, giving a clear signal to all concerned that the leadership of chief minister Bhupesh Baghel will continue in the forthcoming Assembly elections but that the party would like everyone to be on board while fighting a key battle.
The recent Karnataka election results appear to have had a strong impact on the party. They have proved to the party leadership that every election is a fresh battle where any dynamic can turn critical. It is for those at the helm to ensure that every element comes together to make the party a cohesive and fighting-fit unit. This, coupled with the party’s steadfast line of being secular and unabashedly socialist in economic outlook, has worked with an electorate who chose it over a communal BJP. The Congress has learnt its lesson well. It also brought in the service of former party president Sonia Gandhi to iron out differences between two tall leaders in the state so that the government got off to a smooth start.
The Congress leadership under Mallikarjun Kharge demonstrates a grasp of the developments on the ground in states, and that is a welcome change. Not many years have passed since the leadership messed in Punjab, destabilising a well-run government headed by Capt. Amarinder Singh and eventually getting wiped out in the ensuing Assembly elections. Before that, the party either watched helplessly when the BJP undermined its governments in power or refused leaders permission to form government despite emerging as the single largest party in several states.
Five states are going to polls this year. Of them, the party has been in power in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan while it nurses hopes in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana state. In fact, the Karnataka win has re-energised the moribund party unit in neighbouring Telangana state where the dismal performance of the BRS government and the over-enthusiasm of the BJP have only helped its cause. Reconciliation efforts in Rajasthan, which has been a work in progress for more than three years, occasionally throw up some solution but they aren’t lasting.
While the party underlined Mr Singh Deo’s “loyalty” as a key factor in promoting him, it chose to ignore that of Sachin Pilot who contributed immensely to the party’s victory in the last Assembly elections. But it will be able to resolve the crisis in Rajasthan, too, if it finds a way to send a message, as it did in Chhattisgarh, that what matters is the loyalty to the party and not to the chief minister.
The Opposition’s unity efforts at the national level are making steady progress and the Congress can be confident that it has been at the centre of it and in the company of its long-time allies, thanks mainly to its electoral wins and the cohesion it has shown of late. The same strategy of respecting every stakeholder and giving them their due could work at the national level as well.
