Is Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in need of a public relations image makeover? To remind the country that she is a strong leader who thinks of her party first and everything else later?
Possibly yes, say Congress insiders.
They claim that the battering which the party has received over the last few months on a number of issues -- predominantly corruption and severe electoral reverses in states like Bihar -- have been compounded by the continuing silence of the Congress leadership.
It is felt that the dent in the image of the Congress has also rubbed off on the Congress president as the party managers have not been able to insulate her from the problems plaguing the party and the government.
A senior leader said that she herself has not helped matters by her continuing inaction in making appointments in the party, or by taking tough stance against those who have erred or rewarding those who have done well.
In that context, sources say that when the Congress was able to browbeat the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to part with a few extra seats which have come from the quota of the allies, the leader herself took the opportunity to call up media persons to let them know of the role played by her in handling the DMK ministers.
The fact that she was angry, annoyed and upset, and said that she would not compromise with the prestige of the Congress party, were all tailor made to give the impression that she was the iron hand which guided the fortunes of the Congress party.
Possibly correct, said a senior leader. But the very fact that the party managers needed to conduct a publicity exercise on her behalf spoke volumes for the problems staring the Congress president in the face.
They believe it also reveals the disenchantment seen in party circles at the fast disappearing goodwill the Congress had enjoyed less than two years ago.
Particularly when such an exercise is a very rare occurrence, since for the most part Congress leaders or even its media managers do not feel the need to communicate with the media or even to explain various situations to them or even to put matters in the correct perspective.
A party MP said that with another three years to go before the next general election, there was still time to remedy the situation and to minimise the damage to the party's image and credibility which had also reached the door of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and even the Congress president.
So while there are no public dissenting voices within the Congress party over the manner in which affairs of the state and the party are being run, there is a genuine simmering worry that the advantages of the UPA 1 rule are being frittered away.
And if this gets reflected in electoral performances, along the lines witnessed in Bihar, then the party managers may need to do much more to contain the damage.
The biggest litmus test would be Uttar Pradesh elections, says a senior party leader. If the party fails to find its feet there, the growing worry is that the internal murmurings may become louder and more open.
How this would play out remains to be seen, but what is becoming increasingly obvious is that the party leadership would need to do much more to get its act together.
Merely remaining silent may not help in the long run, say insiders who are becoming worried at the internal power play currently on within the Congress.
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