The loyalist that he is, Digvijaya Singh took the fall for Rahul Gandhi

Keeping the upcoming Karnataka assembly polls in mind, the Congress replaced Digvijaya Singh with K C Venugopal as the state's in-charge. While many deemed the move a reaction to his handling of the Congress post-Goa assembly polls, Digvijaya Singh may have just taken the fall for Rahul Gandhi. The Congress leaders in Goa were fuming at Rahul Gandhi as much as at Digvijaya Singh but it was only Singh that the Congress chose to act against.

Vishwajit Rane who quit the Congress after the Goa fiasco directly blamed Rahul Gandhi for failing to form the government. What further angered the Congress leaders was the fact that Rahul Gandhi refused to give them an appointment to voice their concerns. Savio Rodrigues who quit the Congress a day after Rane said that he could not 'accept Rahul Gandhi as his leader'. "The Congress vice president is not taking responsibility, Digvijaya Singh is responsible for the loss," he had said.

On the day the Congress ousted him as the general secretary in-charge of Karnataka and Goa, Digvijay Singh took to twitter to express his loyalty to the 'party' and the 'family'. This loyalty perhaps is what led to Digvijay Singh take the fall for Rahul Gandhi.

I am loyal to the Party and Nehru Gandhi Family and owe my position to the Party and to them.

— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) April 29, 2017

In Karnataka, while the workers were unhappy with Digvijay Singh's style of functioning, the bigger worry was Rahul Gandhi being inaccessible. The cadre now hopes K C Venugopal doesn't commit the same mistakes. The anger in Goa was clearly against Digvijaya Singh as much as Rahul Gandhi but the Congress chose to crack the whip on Singh.

With this move, the Congress has once again successfully protected its vice president while an aide of his takes responsibility and the fall for the party's 'collective failure' as described by many within. Digvijay Singh's ouster, the Congress hopes, will help pacify cadres who are unhappy with central leadership as a while, Rahul Gandhi included.

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