WHOSE HAND IS IT ANYWAY?

AS RAHUL GANDHI GETS BACK TO THE THICK OF THINGS IN THE CONGRESS, THE PARTY VETERANS LOOK TO THWART HIS TEAM’S PLANS. ANOTHER POWER STRUGGLE SEEMS TO BE ON IN THE GRAND OL’ PARTY

- KAUSHIK DEKA

IF one were to define Rahul Gandhi by his current position in the Congress, it would have to be as another of the 52 Lok Sabha members of the party. He is not even a general secretary, though the former party president is part of the highest decision-making body—the Congress Working Committee (CWC). Yet, in the past two months, since the national lockdown was imposed to arrest the spread of the coronavirus, Rahul has more or less been the face and voice of the Congress. But then again, his mother Sonia Gandhi is the Congress president, the tallest leader in the party.

This unscripted division of power and responsibility between mother and son has kept everyone guessing about the leadership in the party. The lockdown has only added to the turmoil, as a game of one-upmanship is on between two groups, the Sonia loyalists and Rahul’s coterie. For instance, on March 26, a day after the lockdown came into effect, Sonia wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting measures “to address the massive health crisis” and “ameliorate the immense economic and existential pain” that vulnerable sections of our society would be subjected to. Three days later, Rahul also shot offa letter to the prime minister along the same lines.