Rahul Gandhi, toiling hard for Congress revival

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi might have gained much traction on social media over his hilarious tweets and sharp public speeches, but his leadership skills will be put to test in the upcoming assembly elections.

Rahul Gandhi is taking charge of the Congress when its numbers in the Lok Sabha have reduced to 44, its organisation is in poor shape and its footprint across the country has shrunk to a couple of states. The new Congress president will now be held accountable directly for all the failures which are bound to come given the state of the Congress in electoral politics.

Clearly, Rahul has a tough task at hand, faced with the challenge of strengthening the organisation, re-establishing the party's credibility and reversing its electoral fortunes.

By raising the issues of demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST) in his Gujarat campaign, Rahul has been trying to directly take on PM Narendra Modi. For his part, Modi has pitched the December elections as a contest between dynasty and development.

In the past several months, Rahul has been leading the Congress from the front with party chief Sonia Gandhi taking a backseat. While the lack of a credible face in Gujarat has put the entire burden on Rahul to guide the Congress to victory, the party is fighting the November 9 elections in Himachal Pradesh under six-time CM Virbhadra Singh.

Congress leaders maintain that the recent events suggested that their party was on the road to revival and the signs started coming soon after Rahul's speeches in the United States, especially his interaction with students of University of California, Berkeley.

These speeches appeared to have struck a chord with his party colleagues, who insisted that Rahul has managed to correct the perception most people had of him.

Rahul may be at his aggressive best in the run-up to the elections. However, he has been aggressive in previous elections too, though not to this extent. It remains to be seen whether Rahul's attacks on the BJP will put Congress in the driver's seat or fail to stop the BJP's winning streak.

OneIndia News