The Last Lap Of A Slow Ascension

Rahul would be taking over as Congress chief. But the question remains the same: when?

- Bula Devi

November 7 was a big day for the Congress when the Congress Working Commit­ tee (CWC) unanimously rec­ommended a change of guard, voicing the need for heir app­arent and vice­president Rahul Gandhi to steer the party in future. The move seems to be aimed at replacing the growing sense of drift and unease in the average Congress supporter and worker with a sense of direction before the forthcoming assembly elections. Similar attempts had been made—and more than once—but every time the change seemed to be around the cor­ner, the internal struggles of the party played out in ways that preempted it.

This time, the matter was not even placed on the agenda of the CWC meeting. And yet everything appears to have been pre-planned. Obviously, care had been taken to keep it secret until the last minute. A few senior leaders might have had an inkling of what was to come, but they had kept quiet, helping the developments unfold in maximum accord with the script. Party president Sonia Gandhi was said to be unwell and couldn’t attend the meeting. Her chair was removed later and Gandhi junior presided over the meeting.

There were conflicting reports on whether the succession issue took up most of the four-hour meeting, or by the three resolutions that were passed. Rahul was present throughout the discussion on his elevation, though some leaders felt he should have left the room then. “The matter had to be clinched,” says a leader who was at the meeting. “No point postponing it again and again. No point crying wolf when there is no cause for it, especially if the party stands to lose. But, yes, a better gesture would have been to leave the room when it was being discussed.” Another leader commented, “When the person is sitting there, can anyone possibly express dissent? Even silence would have been construed as dissent.”