From the excited gossip in the political class, it would seem that the greatest gains for the Congress in the elections have been the winning back of the Muslim vote and the emergence of Priyanka Gandhi. The first underscores Sonia Gandhi's determination to cobble together once again the old party vote bank of the economically and socially under-privileged. The second suggests that the party is firmly rooted in its dynastic heritage. The first development explains why the Congress under Ms Gandhi has established itself as one of the two poles in an increasingly bi-polar situation, but the dynastic principle will surely lead to the party scoring self-goals again.
All that Sonia Gandhi has to do is look at the election results as they roll in from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. In all three states, the Congress will get far fewer seats than would have been the case if the party's flock had not gone astray. Between them, Mamata Banerjee, GK Moopanar and Sharad Pawar point to the critical mistakes that the party president has made in the last year-and-a-half, all of them having led to a split in the Congress vote. And the party's hopes of turning the tables on the BJP must surely rest on bringing the brood together again. It is inconceivable that this can be made to happen without making the party more decentralised in its power structures, a party that does not belong to one family.
The Congress will probably have got a little more than 25 per cent of the popular vote in these elections. To move from the region of 140 seats to 200 and more, there has to be a significant increase in the popular vote in key states, so that the national total goes up to nearer 35 per cent.
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Stressing the dynastic principle (harking back to husband and mother-in-law and projecting her children) will surely prove a stumbling block in this context, not least in the male, urban voting section that still forms the core of the BJP's strength. It would also make it more difficult for other parties to make common cause with the Congress. The choices are not easy, but they remain fairly simple. a name="description" content="This is one industry where the government can actually play a crucial role, argues Subir Gokarn">