Can the Congress vice-president listen to the voices of dissension in the party and change his outlook and style of functioning? In other words, can the party depend on Rahul to bring them back to power, muses Anita Katyal
Welcoming Raghuram Rajan panel report which has put Bihar among the least developed states, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday described it as a 'victory' for the state but was non-committal on alliance with the Congress for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
A day after the Congress brainstormed over its electoral reverses, senior leader M Veerappa Moily on Monday said Sonia Gandhi should take "full control" of the party with a free hand to change non-performing leaders, and asserted that a "mere culture of tweets and social media propaganda" would not take the organisation forward.
If it splits now, who takes what away and leaves what behind? asks Shekhar Gupta.
'Fixing accountability in the Congress must be addressed on a war footing.' 'It is impossible for Sonia Gandhi to know each and every party worker, so she has to rely on advisors.' 'If they guide or misguide, the blame should go to them.'
'We will do whatever is necessary when the day and moment arrives.' 'As a party which has ruled Maharashtra for most of its existence, we also have our base and turf to protect.'
Rahul Gandhi's surprise sabbatical has exposed faultlines in the Congress.
'If things don't work on the ground and they continue moving at this pace, it will vanish.'
The BJP calling the Congress a "torn old party" moving towards a stage where its relevance and necessity will be completely lost.
Congress Vice president Rahul Gandhi's decision to use the same team he used in the Lok Sabha polls for the upcoming assembly elections has not gone down well with many in the party. Rediff.com contributor Renu Mittal reports
AK Antony's statement of the Congress appearing to no longer being secular and playing minority politics just might be one of the reasons for the party's poor showing in the Lok Sabha elections. Renu Mittal reports how the Congress may be adopting a new approach.
'They have been pursuing their agenda of bulldozing everything and everybody on their way.' 'They suddenly see Rahul Gandhi standing in front of them without fear and fighting against them aggressively.' 'He doesn't show any compromise in his attitude towards fascism.'
Congress campaign seeking to paint the ruling party as anti-poor and anti-farmer seems to have unnerved the BJP, feels T N Ninan.
"The Delhi results are indication of shape of things to come in our future politics. The sweep of AAP and just three seats to BJP showed hollowness of Modi's political hype", he noted.
'Removing Biplab Deb and replacing him with Manik Saha is a fruitless exercise that the BJP national leadership has indulged in.' 'It is foolish to think that people will forget what these two have done to the state and its people in the last four years.'
Rattled by the electoral debacle, the Congress is seriously considering replacing chief ministers of Maharashtra, Assam and Haryana in a major shake-up ahead of assembly elections.
In her letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi three days ago, Kidwai said she was relinquishing charge as party general secretary and Mahila Congress chief as he felt that Rahul Gandhi should be given the necessary space to bring in younger leaders of his choice
For the Congress to be taken seriously, it has to convince those around it that it could actually double its Lok Sabha seat share from the existing 52, and vote-share by a third more from the stagnating 20 per cent in 2014 and 2019, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
An inchoate anger is brewing within the party against the central leadership after the poor show in the assembly polls.
Digvijaya Singh, the Congress veteran who is one of its general secretaries, talks about his inability, despite years of urging, to get party vice-president and supposed heir, Rahul Gandhi, to communicate more directly. And, on related matters of generational change.
Since two weeks now, A K Antony has been meeting Congress leaders across India to pinpoint reasons behind the party's abysmal performance in Lok Sabha elections.
Since the AICC general secretary is known to be close to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, there is every possibility that he could be speaking on behalf of the party leadership, reports Anita Katiyal.
'Will the Statue of Unity and Tent City Narmada have as much of a transformational effect on the local economy as the salt desert/Tent City Dhordo did is something that only time can tell,' says Sanjeev Nayyar.
In the coming days, the Congress may be run by a trimurti of Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka, with Rahul holding the primary position both in Parliament and in the party and Sonia and Priyanka helping him out as and when required.
Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi, in an interview to a leading daily, has stated that he is "ready to take charge".
'Delhi 2015 is a warning of an intensifying nightmare in the offing.'
Despite the recent electoral reverses, Rahul is getting ready to walk the fire once more. The question is whether he will get burned or burnished in the process, says Saroj Nagi.
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