Amidst Ugly Scenes in the CWC, Congress Postpones Election Of President To June
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-01-23 12:42:57
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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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It was no surprise that the latest meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) once again saw dispute over holding of elections for a new chief of the party and also to the seats in the highest decision making body. The two groups are well defined. One group comprises leader like Ashok Gehlot, Amarinder Singh, Bhupesh Baghel, A K Antony, Ambika Soni and Haresh Rawat who are the loyalists (or sycophants, depending on one's view) of the Gandhi family and the other group consists of the letter writers or what they have come to be called, the Group of 23. It has Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mukul Wasnik, P Chidambaram and Anand Sharma, among others.
The Group of 23 demanded immediate elections for the position of the party chief, some seats on the CWC and the party election committee. This group was of the view that things cannot be delayed indefinitely and elections should be held forthwith. The other group said that since state elections were coming up in four important states and a Union territory, it was not the right time to hold internal elections. The party should focus on the state elections. A bitter exchange of words is reported to have taken place between the two groups with Gehlot and Sharma leading the charge from the respective groups. It is reported that Rahul Gandhi intervened to give the June date and asked partymen to stop fighting and move on.
Both groups are right. While the Group of 23 thinks that the party is not seriously interested in holding elections, it keeps postponing the same. Hence, it demanded immediate action. The other group is also right that the party should focus on the upcoming state elections. The fight once again showed the deep division between the senior Congressmen who have seats in the CWC. That the party has allowed matters to drift and has not taken action on the points raised by the dissidents is typical of it. The Congress abhors change and most Congressmen are comfortable in the status quo. Given a chance, the loyalists will never want the party to hold elections and will be happy with whatever the Gandhis do and work with whoever they nominate to important positions.
But this is no longer accepted to an ever growing number of other seniors. They do not want the party to break, otherwise they would have left to chart their own course. They have the good of the party at heart and want it to deflect the dynastic and non-democratic party barb with which the BJP regularly taunts it. They are saddened that the party is becoming inconsequential mainly due to the top leadership not coming out of its comatose state. They want to revive the party but such is the iron grip of the Gandhis and their loyalists that they cannot do anything. One thinks that if the June deadline for the elections is not met, the Group of 23 will take a decisive action as their patience has been tested many times and this time something is bound to give.
