The Scions Aren't Missed

Once projected by the opposition as leaders to look out for, the heirs apparent seem to be fading away.

- Puneet Nicholas Yadav

General secretary Priyanka is tasked with reviving the UP unit for the 2022 assembly polls. Rahul holds no party post. His challenges: shedding his ‘non-serious’ image and presenting himself as a credible alternative to the Modi-Shah duo; proving that the Congress can run without a Nehru-Gandhi at the helm; spelling out a clear Congress ideology.

IF furious outbursts on Twitter could help political parties bounce back from electoral ignominy, the shattered Opposition would have, by now, scripted a historic come­ back. On a high from its unprece­dented 303 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, the ruling BJP, however, shows no signs of complacency, drafting new members, flagging off yatras in poll­bound states like Maha rash­tra, Haryana and Jharkhand, and wrecking rivals with a perpetual poaching campaign. By contrast, over three months after they were left with more than a bloody nose at the hustings, the many political heirs apparent— Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Tejashwi Yadav, Akhilesh Yad av, H.D. Kumara­ swamy et al— who, until six months ago, were projected by their respec­ tive parties as the leaders to look out for, have been largely missing from the scene.