WHY YOUNG TURKS QUIT PLAYING CONGRESS RaGa

From Biswa Sarma to Scindia and now Pilot, Cong has been unable to hold on to Young Turks. Here’s what’s gone wrong

- Anand Kumar Patel

IN AN article published in a daily, Senior Congressman Mani Shankar Aiyyar compared Rahul Gandhi to King Lear in Shakespearean tragedy drama. Himself on the edge in the party, the veteran leader diagnosed the crisis in Congress as whom Rahul trusted most seem to be deserting him first. Is this sign of Congress becoming a sinking ship or has Rahul failed the youth brigade?

Hardly went a day when the former Congress president didn’t tweet to attack the PM Modi government while the Indian Army and Chinese PLA were engaged in a bitter stand-off at the Ladakh border. But his eloquent silence in the Rajasthan crisis has sent out a clear message that the young brigade is finding itself without a power backup.

A frustrated Sachin Pilot has been eased out as the state deputy chief minister, a post he reluctantly accepted on the insistence of Rahul himself. After being sacked for raising a rebellion, Pilot told India Today, “Soon after Rahul Gandhi stepped down as party chief, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his friends ganged up against me.”