DC Edit | In Kerala, Rahul Barking up Wrong Tree

Rahul Gandhi wears many hats, including those of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, former Congress president and the scion of the Congress’ first family. He does justice to them to the best of his abilities. The one hat he often forgets he is wearing though is that of a top line leader of the INDIA bloc of Opposition parties.

Mr Gandhi’s party leads the United Democratic Front in Kerala, which will be taking on the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front in the Assembly elections which will be held in a couple of months from now. While the Congress and Left fight each other in a few states, they are part of a single political platform at the national level. There are compulsions of realpolitik which would call for political savvy of the highest level to negotiate these contradictions.

Mr Gandhi, in his eagerness to prop up his own party and alliance in Kerala, is wont to shed all the inhibitions and wonder aloud why the Central agencies are not taking action against the state’s CPI(M) chief minister. The Congress leader has expressed his irritation about the inaction on part of Central agencies against Mr Pinarayi Vijayan during his latest visit to the state, little knowing that there are no cases pending against him which call for such action.

The Left parties’ position vis-à-vis the saffron brigade is quite known to all but Mr Gandhi would allege that there is a “deal” between them in the state, echoing the sentiments of the state Congress leaders. But Mr Gandhi has advanced no proof to cement his allegation against a party which is part and parcel of the INDIA bloc formed to fight the saffron politics. If he is so convinced that the CPI(M) has an unholy nexus with the BJP in a state where it is in power, he should then see to it that the Left party is kicked out of the INDIA bloc. If he can’t, then he should apply his mind more assiduously to the relations his party has with the others on the same platform and then make it known to the public.