The special Congress meeting, convened by interim president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday, 19 December, to iron out differences with the dissenters in the party, ended on a tentative note, with both sides realising that neither can do without the other.
Well aware that she can ill-afford to alienate a large number of senior leaders at this juncture, when she is at her most vulnerable, Sonia thought it prudent to call her unhappy colleagues for a meeting where she referred to the Congress as one family and stressed the need of working unitedly to strengthen the party.
Dissenters Can’t Do Without Sonia
On the other side, a section of leaders who had written to Sonia in August, seeking an organisational overhaul and a more visible party leadership, walked a fine line as they balanced their demand for internal elections at the five-hour-long meeting with pledges of loyalty to the Nehru-Gandhi family and the party.
The dissenters were equally aware that they are in no position to walk out of the Congress. Neither do any of them have the wherewithal to lead the party or pose any serious challenge to the Gandhi family.
In other words, both sides have to necessarily make peace with each other.
The first step towards a reconciliation was taken by the 23 letter writers or G-23 as they are referred to, who wrote to Sonia last month asking for a meeting for a discussion on the issues they had raised.
Hence the meeting on Saturday, the first time that Sonia met her colleagues in person after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Want Internal Elections, Not Against Party, Say Dissenters
The meeting was also important as organisational elections are to be held within the next few months and though there are many in the party who are not in favour of Rahul returning as Congress chief, Sonia is keen that he take over the reins of the party once again.
The dissenters, which included Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Prithviraj Chavan, Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor, did raise their demand for internal organisational elections but without making any direct reference to Rahul.
The group has repeatedly said that the Congress president and members of the working committee should be elected and not nominated, as has been the practice for several decades now.
However, the dissidents were also quick to point out that they had no altruistic motive in seeking greater inner party democracy. Instead, this move was meant to safeguard the leadership from any attacks.
Chavan is learnt to have pointed out that the Congress president faces unnecessary flak from within the ranks for his or her poor judgement call when a nominated leader fails to deliver while an elected leader is answerable for his or her actions.
Bring Back the Good Old Chintan Shivirs
This group also called for wider consultations, frequent meetings of the party’s working committee and chintan shivirs (brainstorming sessions) like those held previously in Shimla and Panchmarhi, where the party’s future political roadmap was drawn up after a vigorous debate.
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram made a strong case for the constitution of a Parliamentary Board, which mandated to take a call on the party’s position on key issues as and when required.
At the same time, the group of letter writers present at the Saturday meeting were quick to stress that they were neither “dissenters or rebels” and that they were equally interested in strengthening the party.
This was acknowledged by Sonia, who reciprocated the gesture, saying that they all have to pool their resources and talent to put up a good show in next year’s Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala.
Rahul Tears into Kamal Nath, Chidambaram
On his part, Rahul did not indicate if he was willing to take over as Congress president once again, though the loyalists at the meeting did press him to do so. Unlike Sonia and his sister Priyanka Vadra, who were at their gracious best, Rahul took a dig at former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath:
“You thought you were the chief minister but in reality the state was being run by the RSS, which has infiltrated the bureaucracy.”
Similarly, he told Chidambaram that he was not in the reckoning in Tamil Nadu and that the DMK is the real political player in the state.
‘Lot of Issues, No Solutions’
Despite the subtle and not-so-subtle swipes made during the course of the deliberations, the meeting ended with the realisation that they all have to pitch in together, present a united face, strengthen the party and hit the road if they are to take on a resurgent BJP.
The party’s recent poll performances in Bihar, Rajasthan and Kerala were clearly weighing on everyone’s mind as they all mouthed the usual platitudes.
The comments at the meeting were all well-intentioned but the question is if they will result in any concrete action. A senior Congress leader put in aptly, “A lot of issues were raised today, but there were no solutions.”
(The writer is a senior Delhi-based journalist who can be reached at @anitaakat. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are the author's own. The Quint neither endorses, nor is responsible for them.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)