Highly-respected management institutes as well as fancily-priced consultants offer courses on succession planning to companies, but why not extend this to political parties? Few of India’s political parties have a second-line of command, nor do the top leaders know when to quit. Even the BJP, which one thought was a disciplined party and different from the rest, is falling into the same trap. There is widespread disillusionment with the top leadership, and the second-rung keeps squabbling.
In states like Rajasthan, press reports suggest, top leaders in Delhi were quite happy to sabotage the chances of Vasundhara Raje getting re-elected; in the Delhi Assembly, similarly, factional fighting ensured the party cut a sorry figure. Such a course, were it to be offered, is certain to be lapped up.
Badri Gupta, Gurgaon
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