Fixing internal strife major task for Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who apparently impressed the international audience with his speeches in United States, however, continues to fumble in the domestic front. In the US, he addressed students in University of California, Berkeley, and Princeton University. Two weeks of a well-orchestrated tour saw him visiting San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Princeton and New York, where Mr Gandhi was exposed to a diversity of opinion makers. His speeches created quite a flutter back home, especially when he spoke about dynasty in India.

He also came under severe criticism from his opponents for “criticising India on foreign soil”. But where he seemed to have scored is underlining the crisis of unemployment prevailing in India.

While Mr Gandhi is slated to take over as the party chief in October, his outfit continues to be in a mess in the election-bound states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The trouble seems to be more in Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, where chief minister Virbhadra Singh and Congress state unit chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu are at loggerheads. The chief minister had publicly announced that till the time the state unit chief is replaced, neither will he contest the election nor will he campaign. Twenty-seven sitting MLAs of the Congress have also written to the Congress high command backing the claim of the chief minister.

Mr Singh had also come to Delhi and met Congress president Sonia Gandhi but there remains an eerie silence. In the meantime, general secretary in-charge of Himachal Pradesh Sushil Kumar Shinde said that there is no chance of the state unit being replaced. Reacting sharply to Mr Shinde’s remarks, the chief minister said, “Mr Shinde is not the final authority in the party.”

Similarly, in poll-bound Gujarat, too, the party is yet to see a planned campaign. Insiders say that Mr Gandhi is expected to kickstart the Gujarat campaign from September 25.

Though Mr Gandhi might have impressed students abroad but now, as the Congress president in waiting, he needs to address the nuts and bolts issues of his party at the earliest.

The problem that the Gujarat unit is facing is the lack of a leader who has a pan Gujarat appeal. This has become even more prominent after the exit of former chief minister Shankarsinh Vaghela from the party.

After the breaking away of the JD(U) from the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, the Congress Legislature Party is also facing a major crisis. Several MLAs have openly spoken against state unit chief and former education minister Ashok Chaudhary, a nominee of Mr Gandhi, and general secretary in-charge C.P. Joshi. As the Congress Legislature Party was on the verge of a spilt, Mr Gandhi met all the MLAs and senior leaders from Bihar regarding the situation prevailing in the state. But a final decision is yet to be taken.

A similar situation prevails in Madhya Pradesh where the Congress has to appoint a new state unit chief. Once again, a final decision is yet to be taken. Though Mr Gandhi might have impressed students abroad but now, as the Congress president in waiting, he needs to address the nuts and bolts issues of his party at the earliest.