 "Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi (Photo: PTI)")
After continuous electoral debacles in over two years, Rahul Gandhi pitchforked himself to the forefront in the party in a bid to galvanise the rank and file by stepping up his offensive on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a gamble he hopes will pay off in the new year and after.
The year gone by saw Rahul adopting an aggressive position against the ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) on all major issues, from demonetisation and surgical strikes to Rohit Vemula's suicide and JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) sedition row.
While Rahul's emergence from the shadows of his mother and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi gave the party some reasons to cheer, unabated electoral descent remained a cause of concern throughout 2016.
Congress lost Assam and Kerala to the BJP - and Left Front-led coalitions respectively in May, failing to revive its sagging fortunes having seen a solitary election win in Bihar in 2015.
Even in Arunachal Pradesh, Congress, after an initial respite from the Supreme Court, suffered a major setback when its entire state unit and all but one of its MLAs defected to a regional party to form a government with BJP's support.
On the political front, Uttarakhand was the sole reason for solace to Congress, with the court intervening to restore its government after the imposition of President's rule by the Centre.
Although in West Bengal, Congress made marginal gains, a section of its state leaders was deeply shaken by what they claimed as an "unholy alliance" with the Left, against which the party was pitted directly in Kerala.
On the organisational front, an ailing Sonia Gandhi withdrew herself consciously from the leadership role, getting her son and Amethi MP to step into her shoes in the year gone by.
This resulted in many firsts for Rahul. In November, Rahul chaired his first meeting of the Congress Working Committee which even passed a resolution recommending his elevation as party president.
Later on December 28, Rahul chaired the Congress foundation day celebrations for the first time, addressing his colleagues. In between, while Sonia stayed away from public roles, Rahul emerged as the leader of Congress' strategy in Parliament managing to work with the larger Opposition on the issue of demonetisation.
Rahul's ability to carry the Opposition together, however, remained under question when on the last day of Winter Session of Parliament, senior Opposition leaders from Left, SP (Samajwadi Party), BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party), NCP (Nationalist Congress Party), JDU (Janata Dal (United)) and DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), pulled out of a joint visit to the President on the matter of demonetisation after he unilaterally went and met the prime minister on farmers' issues.
The Opposition leaders had withdrawn after several days of opposition unity which was evident from the unprecedented coordination on the issue of demonetisation as the year drew to a close.
Every day of the Winter Session, 16 Opposition leaders including arch rivals Left and TMC, SP and BSP met every morning to discuss ways of cornering the government. This unity suffered a blow with Rahul's move of meeting Modi.
It could not be redeemed despite the best efforts of Ahmed
Patel, Political Secretary to Sonia, who attempted to get all Opposition leaders together for a joint appearance at a press conference on demonetisation on December 27. TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee saved the day for Congress by attending this meet with Rahul, at a time when SP, BSP, Left, JDU, and NCP stayed away.
While Opposition unity had its highs and lows, Rahul consistently kept the pressure on Modi post demonetisation even accusing him of accepting bribes from industrialists. By citing 2013 Sahara and Birla diaries, he pitched his stakes too high, as he dared Modi to face an independent probe and come clean.
While BJP accused him of practising hit-and-run politics, Rahul made sure he was everywhere from roads to headlines.
From courting arrest on the one rank one pension (OROP) issue to standing in a queue outside a central Delhi bank ATM, Rahul did all he could to be visible and aggressive.
On demonetisation, Rahul fielded former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take on the government and dub the move as "organised loot and legalised plunder".
On surgical strikes, too, the Congress led by Rahul, changed a few goalposts by first supporting the government action and then ending up accusing Modi of "hiding behind the blood of soldiers".
Earlier in 2016, Rahul was seen dictating Congress strategy on the JNU sedition row wherein he personally went to the JNU campus to express solidarity with the arrested students. Similarly, after Vemula's suicide, Rahul visited the campus of Hyderabad University to stand with the students. His political critics, however, questioned his absence from Haryana in the aftermath of the Jat agitation which left behind a trail of fear and destruction in the state.
Overall, while Rahul was seen coming into command position and moving closer to his long expected elevation as Congress chief, the party struggled for impact and continued to lose veterans.
The exodus of top guns from Congress continued, be it ex- Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi, ex-Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, former Uttar Pradesh Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi or party's Bengal strongman Sudip Burman.
Amid organisational challenges, Rahul led the election campaign in Uttar Pradesh with a historic 2500-km kisan yatra from Deoria to Delhi.
Indicating Congress's willingness to raise election stakes, Rahul even approved, for the first time, hiring Prashant Kishor as a party strategist for poll-bound Uttar Pradesh and Punjab besides naming ex-Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as the Congress CM face in Uttar Pradesh.
Supporting him in Uttar Pradesh strategy was sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who attended her first ever official Congress meet comprising state leaders signalling her involvement in the process. Priyanka's much-anticipated campaign launch, however, did not happen in 2016.
With elections round the corner in five states this year, all eyes will now be on Congress's first family, which had, in the wake of the 2014 Lok Sabha loss, promised its cadres and people of the country serious introspection and course correction.
