)
There was little that the Congress led UPA could do, but watch on helplessly, as both houses of Parliament were overtaken by loud protests over child deaths in the Muzaffarnagar camps as well as Seemandhra protests. Both houses had to be adjourned for the day with no business being transacted.
As it is, the party was reeling after the previous night’s debacle when the party saw itself being routed in four states (with the exception of Chattisgarh where Congress put up a fight) even reduced to single digits in the capital itself.
The somber mood in the Congress and government was reflected in no celebrations being held for Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s 67th birthday; officially it was ascribed to the ongoing national mourning for Nelson Mandela.
By late evening, Sonia Gandhi sat down for a round of review at her 10, Janpath home with senior AICC leaders in charge of the states (that had gone to polls) to ascertain how they lost the plot.
The Central hall of Parliament was abuzz whole day with MPs old and young dissecting and analyzing the rout. As a sitting Congress minister later exclaimed “strictly off the record” when asked about whether this was a failure of Rahul Gandhi.
“This too is ‘nonsense’ harking back to Gandhi’s comment when trashing the convicted ‘netas’ ordinance. Dismissing all the “official talk” about “need for deep introspection” he added that under Gandhi youth was initially inducted with much fanfare but overlooked when delegating responsibility. “In the last reshuffle, the average age of the new ministers inducted was 73. We can’t carry on this way.”
He reasoned that due to the inconsistent policies of the government, youth were being weaned away by parties like the Aam Aadmi Party.
More senior leaders grumbled about the taking over of the party by the “young tech savvy team” of Rahul Gandhi due to which experienced old hands had been given short shrift and new methods of candidate selection instead of time tested factors of ‘winnability’ was given prominence.
“(Rahul Gandhi) Favourties like CP Joshi should now be made to answer how they managed to lose Rajasthan so badly- the complete nose dive of the party there despite the “tall promises” being made by Joshi and Co.” said a Congress MP.
With precisely eight working days left for this session, the government seems rudderless as it keels from one debacle to another. As if the 4-0 wipe out in the state polls was not enough, its own MPs had decided to attack it when it was at it weakest. Seething over the formation of Telanagana, six Seemandhra MPs from the Congress camp have moved a motion of no confidence against the government.
The Lok Sabha speaker apparently had to admit the motion considering that no similar motion had been passed against the government in the last six months. A senior Congress leader looked wary, as he said, “It all depends upon other parties and our allies – we need to see what is their stand on the issue.”
Congress ministers from Seemandhra have virtually all stopped working for the party.
As most Cabinet and Mos ministers told Business Standard none are attending office and have even informed the top brass that they do not intend to attend to Parliament work. Its as if the party in the run up to the 2014 polls is a deeply divided house. Already rumblings have started of how the deep gulf, between the party and the government is costing the Congress dearly at the hustings.
After the two hour long review meeting chaired by Sonia Gandhi today, with the AICC incharges and state observers of the five states of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram, speculation was rife that “heads might roll”.
While the Congress talks of sweeping changes, UPA allies are not convinced. Rahul Gandhi’s assurance yesterday of “aggressively” bringing about required changes had a senior ally laughing, “If after all that organizational restructuring the Congress has sunk to this low, will an ‘aggressive’ strategy now bring it down to 20 seats in Parliament.”
