The Slow Aarohan Of A Morning Raga

Finally, Rahul Gandhi’s anointment as Congress chief is imminent. Sights set on 2019, his task is to enliven the party.

- Pranay Sharma

IF everything goes according to script, by early December Rahul Gandhi should be seated in a chair occupied by five of his forebears: that of the Congress party president. Earmarked for years as a future leader of the party, he should not have any major hiccup before completing the formalities and taking over the mantle from his mother Sonia. This much is known, and assumed. But theere’s a big unknown attached to this: would this make him, necessarily and automatically, the Congress’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2019 elections?

The short answer: no, or at least not yet. Indications from within the party are that the Congress leadership is likely to adopt its 2004 strategy and refrain from projecting Rahul or anyone else as its PM candidate. Instead, the party is likely to expend its energies building a coalition of ‘like-minded’ parties, as it had done in the past against the NDA alliance led by Atal Behari Vajpayee. As of now, therefore, India is not about to witness a presidential-style gladiatorial contest between Modi and Rahul as a challenger to his prime ministership. The party will likely wait for the elections results before taking a formal call on this.

For the moment, the focus is on Rahul’s election as Congress president—and the iffiness about its timing that has long marked this pre-scripted transition. A couple of deferments have already been seen. Even now, some sections feel the changeover should wait till the assembly elections in Gujarat are over. That obviously was overruled and Sonia Gandhi has clearly indicated that she is willing to step down to make way for her son now.