Will Rahul Gandhi go down in history as the ‘novice’ who destroyed Congress?

It is high time the Congress should look beyond Rahul Gandhi if the party wants to survive.

New Delhi, April 27: Where is Rahul Gandhi? Everyone seems to be asking the question a day after the Congress faced another humiliating defeat at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Delhi municipal elections on Thursday.

After its dismal performance in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand assembly elections in March, the defeat in local polls in the neighbouring capital city was a disaster waiting to happen.

It seems the scion of the Gandhi family, who is the unofficial head of the party, is least bothered about the Congress' ever dwindling fate in the electoral politics. Even after 24 hours since the election results were out, Rahul is yet to issue a statement.

His last tweet was posted almost 48 hours ago criticising the Centre's failure to stop red terror in spite of demonetisation as 25 Central Reserve Police Force jawans were killed in a Naxal attack in Sukma, Chhattisgarh, on Monday.

Rahul and the Congress might still like to rake up the issue of demonetisation as a colossal failure of the Narendra Modi government. But the voters don't think so. They have time and again voted for the Prime Minister and his policies.

Rather, the voters are still so miffed with the previous two tenures of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government that they are in no mood to hand over power to the party either at the panchayat or the parliamentary level.

Thus the failure of the Congress continues. The party is losing one election after another--right from Assam to Maharashtra. The Congress' presence is fast eroding from every corner of the country.

While the victory chariot of the Bharatiya Janata Party is marching with triumph across the country, the Grand Old Party cut a sorry figure in front of its opponents. In such a critical time, the Congress has no leader to stop its total collapse like a house of cards.

Rahul, the Congress vice president, is unofficially the chief of the party. His mother, Sonia Gandhi, the party president has almost retired from active politics, as she is keeping unwell for some time now.

In spite of her bad health, Sonia tries her best to rescue the party during critical times. Recently, she went to the United States for her treatment. Since her return to India, Sonia was regularly seen attending the last Parliament session and other important public meetings.

These days, when the Opposition is trying its best to come up with a consensual Presidential candidate -- as the tenure of present President Pranab Mukherjee is ending in July -- it is Sonia who is talking to various parties.

But a section of the party, the likes of Digvijay Singh, still maintains that the party's future depends on Rahul. Several of Rahul's colleagues like Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of the President, are seen trying hard to defend his position in television studios.

But all these 'defence mechanisms' of the Congress look vain and repeated. Whenever Congress leaders are asked about their plans to strengthen the party, all they have to say is that the party is introspecting. Everyone wonders when will the party wake up from its slumber?

Although senior leaders like Kapil Sibal and Sheila Dikshit have directly blamed factionalism within the party and the failure of the top leadership to give responsibility and power to deserving candidates for the Delhi local election loss, Rahul still feels that he could relax for some more time.

On Monday, while leaders like Ajay Maken and PC Chacko resigned from their respective party posts after drubbing in the Delhi civic polls, Congress general secretary Gurudas Kamat decided to quit all posts in the party. Reports say Kamat is planning to take retirement from politics.

The party is witnessing regular exodus of its members since the time it has lost assembly elections in UP and Uttarakhand and outwitted by the BJP in Goa and Manipur as the Congress failed to form its governments in these two states in spite of getting maximum seats in the elections.

Right from veteran Congress leaders like SM Krishna joining the BJP in Karnataka recently or the 23 Congress councillors of Itanagar Municipal Council joining the BJP Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday, members after members are deserting the sinking ship called 'Congress'.

If things continue like this, a day is not far behind, when Rahul would perhaps be left alone in the Congress to 'introspect' its fate.

OneIndia News