Congress president elections: A case of fragile unity

Nobody knows where Shashi Tharoor’s caravan will lead in the contest against Mallikarjun Kharge.

Mallikarjun Kharge, flanked by Digvijay Singh and Ashok Gehlot, files his nomination papers for the post of party president at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi on September 30.  | Photo Credit: Ravi Choudhary/PTI

Organisational elections of political parties may be internal affairs, but in the age of 24x7 television and social media, they are more in the public eye than ever. This is more so when the party concerned has governed India for more than six decades. In the election for the post of Congress president, the media focus has been on whether a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family will continue to occupy the top post.

On September 30, that question was answered with the filing of three nominations, proposed and seconded multiple times as an indicator of widespread intra-party support, and none of them was a Gandhi. The three contestants were former Union Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, and former Minister from Jharkhand K.N. Tripathi. Tripathi’s nomination was rejected at the scrutiny stage. On October 17, Pradesh Congress Committee delegates will vote to elect either Kharge or Tharoor as party president provided neither withdraws his nomination, the last date for which is October 8.

On September 28, senior leader Digvijay Singh declared that he would file his nomination papers as well. Tharoor, who by then had announced his candidature, described it as a friendly contest. He shared a photograph of himself and Digvijay Singh in a fraternal embrace. A day later, Digvijay declared he would not contest.

Kharge and G-23 support

Indications are that a consensus might emerge in favour of Kharge and that a contest might not happen. However, for a party that once had a pan-India presence, it was perhaps important to have at least one nomination from the Hindi-speaking belt to correct the regional imbalance. Tharoor is from Kerala and Kharge is from Karnataka.

Shashi Tharoor filing the nomination papers at AICC in Delhi on September 30. | Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

It was not lost on anyone that there was a marked difference when the candidates filed their nominations. Leaders like Digvijay Singh and many from the Group of 23, or G-23, which had pushed for organisational reforms, were among those who proposed Kharge’s nomination. The G-23, which includes Tharoor, was led by Ghulam Nabi Azad; Azad left the party eventually.

Kharge was accompanied by an entourage of top Congress leaders, including G-23 members, whereas Tharoor had mostly party workers cheering for him. After filing his nomination, Tharoor held a press conference to stress that he represented change while Kharge (for whom he expressed deep respect) stood for the status quo.

Speculation is rife that the multiple nominations were simply a form of posturing to show that the party respected everyone’s right to contest and that there could be more than one alternative to the Gandhis. Interestingly, none of the Gandhis appeared personally when the three leaders filed their nominations, which also happened to be the day when Rahul Gandhi and his Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Karnataka.

Rebellion in Rajasthan

The week before the nominations was marked by rebellion in the State unit of the Congress in Rajasthan. For almost a month, it was assumed that three-time Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was the preferred choice for the Congress president’s post, and he played along with this perception. Considered a loyalist, the low-profile Gehlot was portrayed as one who was close to the Gandhis. He had risen from the ranks and steered the party for nearly three decades.

He, however, took some things for granted. He was perhaps given the impression that he could hold two posts, that of Chief Minister and party president. This impression was dispelled when Rahul Gandhi publicly declared, during his yatra, that there was no going back on the resolution adopted at the party’s Udaipur conclave that no one could hold more than one post. The reiteration of the principle of one man, one post conveyed a message. Maybe this served as the catalyst for the developments that unfolded in the last week of September.

In the first place, many aspects were unclear when Ashok Gehlot’s name began doing the rounds for the Congress president’s post. One point was who would be appointed Chief Minister if Gehlot moved to the centre. Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are the only two States that have a Congress government. It was evident that the party could ill afford to take a chance in installing someone in Jaipur who did not enjoy the confidence of the legislators. Once it became clear that Gehlot, despite his wishes, could not be both Chief Minister and party president, the stage was set for a putsch by legislators close to Gehlot, presumably with his approval.

Two central observers, Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken, who is the general secretary in charge of Rajasthan, were deputed to oversee the smooth transition of leadership in the State. The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) was to meet at a place and time in consultation with Gehlot as chair and find a successor to his post by consensus. Both the place and time were fixed, but Gehlot did not turn up. Instead, legislators close to him, three of whom were to get show cause notices later, held a parallel meeting.

The observers had hoped that the CLP would pass, as was usual, a one-line resolution empowering Congress president Sonia Gandhi to appoint a new Chief Minister from among the legislators. However, no meeting was held and the observers returned empty-handed, but not before publicly pointing out that it was an act of indiscipline.

Gehlot’s show of strength

Gehlot had for all practical purposes sabotaged the meeting. The apprehension that he and his band of loyalists expressed, and not without reason, was that their bete-noire, former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, would be installed in Gehlot’s place, nixing Gehlot’s own chances of retaining the post or of appointing someone close to him in the Chief Minister’s chair. All this left the central leadership red-faced.

Meanwhile, Gehlot’s supporters in the party told the media that they would not tolerate someone who had betrayed the party for the top post in the State, in a reference to Sachin Pilot’s rebellion in 2020. They placed conditions that the observers found unreasonable. It was also a show of strength by Gehlot’s loyalists to convey that irrespective of what the central command felt, he was not dispensable as far as the State Congress was concerned. It was a clear ploy to scuttle any chances of one, Sachin Pilot becoming Chief Minister; two, of Gehlot moving to the centre; and three, of the possibility of anyone other than a Gehlot loyalist occupying the Chief Minister’s post.

It did not matter that they themselves had engineered a rebellion, not very different from what Sachin Pilot was accused of doing in 2020. He had refused to attend a CLP meeting, defied a party whip and stayed away with his own band of loyalists, giving rise to speculation that he was in touch with the BJP. Although the issue was settled, Gehlot and his former deputy were not on cordial terms. Intra-party tussles became ridiculously apparent.

If Sachin Pilot’s revolt was the first chapter in the story of the crisis in the Rajasthan Congress, the open rebellion by Gehlot’s loyalists was the second. Gehlot apologised to party president Sonia Gandhi and publicly expressed his regret for the episode. He even took moral responsibility for his failure to convene a CLP meeting. With a public apology he may have bought peace with the central leadership. At the same time, he ensured that the Chief Minister seat was not under any imminent threat.

Challenge for Congress

Everyone knew that the party would not effect a leadership change at this point, paving the way for a vertical split. Rajasthan goes to the polls next year as does Karnataka. At the moment, the Congress faces the challenge of putting up a fight in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, where elections are due later this year. It already faces an uphill task in these two States following the death of two of its troubleshooters, Ahmed Patel in Gujarat and Virbhadra Singh in Himachal Pradesh. Abandoning Gehlot at this stage, therefore, was not an option.

Rahul Gandhi with Congress leaders of Karnataka as the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra enters the State at Gundlupet in Chamarajanagar district, on September 30. | Photo Credit: PTI

There is no doubt that the Congress is working hard to project a picture of intra-party unity, however fragile it may be. The public endorsement of Kharge’s nomination by most of the G-23 leaders, including Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Manish Tewari, may suggest something. Tewari even told reporters that a consensus would be the best way out.

Kharge’s personality

It seems that Kharge, 80, would most likely be the choice of the PCC delegates on the day of voting. In an atmosphere dominated by identity and woke politics, the fact that he is a Dalit will also matter. Besides, he is considered a hands-on, no-nonsense person with more than adequate organisational experience. His reasonable fluency in Hindi and mass base in his home State might be just some of the reasons that make him an apt candidate. He is a nine-time legislator, having held positions both in the State and at the Centre. With the Karnataka Assembly election slated next year, having Kharge in the top post could help the party’s prospects, especially as it faces an aggressive BJP.

The Congress will have a new head by October 19. Given the public display of intrigue and power politics that characterised the run-up to the organisational elections, which was fought more on personalities than issues, there is nothing to suggest that the Congress can present an alternative to the BJP. With fissures within, will the Congress be able to provide leadership to a unified opposition is a question that will come up at some stage.

The other question is whether the Bharat Jodo Yatra will be able to address the ideological vacuousness in the party and rein in personal ambitions of its leaders. As part of his campaign, Tharoor posted a popular Urdu couplet by the leftist poet Majrooh Sultanpuri: “Main akela hee chalaa tha janib-e-manzil, magar log saath aatey gaye aur karwaan bantaa gaya” (I began my journey alone, but people joined me along the way and the caravan grew). Nobody knows where Shashi Tharoor’s caravan will lead, but if the leadership that ultimately gets elected is directionless, it is a no-brainer where the Congress caravan will find itself.

The Crux

• Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor file nominations for Congress presidential election
• Ashok Gehlot was projected to be the presidential candidate but the week before the filing of nominations was marked by rebellion in Rajasthan by legislators close to Gehlot about choosing a successor to him.
•  Gehlot ensured that the Chief Minister seat was not under any imminent threat.
•  Rajasthan goes to the polls next year, and a leadership change at this point would have paved the way for a vertical split.