They mess up alliance with the DMK with no pre-poll alliance with any common minimum programme or about sharing power if the alliance wins
This gives the corrupt DMK party to maneuver to monopolize power with father-son duo to stick as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister posts.
The Congress party under Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi is now a ship in a stormy sea! The Assembly polls in the five states would see how far the Congress regains its lost sheen in the wake of series of scams and scandals and the very government’s survival.
The Opposition in the 15th Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabah under the able leadership of Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitely have brought the government to a precipice and it looks that if pushed further, especially when the Supreme Court takes up the further scams, with the 2-G in the trial court and Dr.Subramanyam Swamy further pressing his sensitive issues with the names of the Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi and even M.Karunanidhi as he is threatening to do might take some unexpected turns for the Singh regime. Yes, already the charge sheet in the 2G names many of Raja’s colleagues, the supplementary charge sheet, as revealed by the CBI and other media reports is likely to name DMK chief’s family members.
So, the air in New Delhi and in Chennai might get hotter and with the prospect of the AIADMK alliance predicted to win, the very survival of the Central government is in suspense.
Now, for the Congress party at the all India level and in the state of Tamil Nadu, there are very real challenges. At the all India level, in Maharashtra the Congress faces the uncertain prospect of seeking Nationalist Congress party (NCP) in a pre-poll alliance for the civic polls in the next two years. NCP as it says wants to test its own strength without any alliance with the Congress.
This is a direct challenge of Sharad Pawar to Sonia Gandhi’s leadership of the Congress. In W.Bengal, the Congress is on back foot with the Trinamool Congress dictating terms to the Congress.
In Tamil Nadu where the Congress is out of power for a stretch of some 44 years and since TN was once the very bastion of the Congress movement, it is a cruel dilemma for the Sonia Rahul duo to tackle the DMK chief’s real threats.
DMK is a wild force as it is today. Caught in monumental corruption in 2G scams running into one lakhs and seventy five thousand crores, the Singh regime’s complicity or collaboration, whatever it might be will be exposed in the trial court and also when the Prime Minister faces the JPC, there could be some testing moments. The PM could be entrapped in a Richard Nixon type lie proved there is no escaping the dire consequences.
Now, Sonia Gandhi is ill-served by her advisers. She first threatened to go alone in the state elections. Then she succumbed to the tricks and pleadings, may be her own advisers were tricked to succumb and then she conceded alliance with just 63 seats with no common minimum programme or a share in power or any other pre-poll conditions. This could only help the DMK and caused damage to the Congress.
Now, the party candidates of the Congress as approved by Sonia Gandhi produced bombshells and led to many rebellions and rival candidates in as many as some 24 constituencies. The PCC President’s wife was field in Chennai elite constituency of Mylapore and then she was tricked to withdraw and the PCC President himself is nominated!
The PCC President is acting as the front man for the DMK party and Sonia Gandhi knows this. What sort of a party the PCC is?
Rank defectors from rival parties are nominated and loyal workers are overlooked. This is the reason for the internal rebellion in the Congress party.
Rahul Gandhi who made much about his conducting the elections to the Youth Congress is now nowhere and his candidates are also disappointed for most of the enthusiastic youth is now dissipated as disappointment over rejection fresh faces have led to this dismay.
Now, there are as many as 40 odd Congress candidates who face the AIADMK candidates directly. Also, there is the danger of the DMK itself to defeat the certain Congress candidates so that the DMK would have a monopoly on power and no rivalry comes from old Congress hands.
Also, there is the chance, of course a remote chance, the Congress faces a wipeout, as in Bihar.
The point is there is no dedicated leadership for the Congress. The PCC President is a handyman of the DMK and the rest of the Congress factions are divided into pro-DMK and pro-AIDMK.
Vasan is a DMK family man. P.Chidambaram is a rank opportunist. The others are nowhere. Everyone in the state Congress is interested only in safeguarding his or her own self-interest.
That is the tragedy of the TN Congress unit. Unlike in Maharashtra or W.Bengal or even in other states like Manipur where the rival Congress or the breakaway Congress are all headed by leaders or faces that are all India known names and faces.
TN doesn’t have a Sharad Pawar or a Mamata Banerjee. Or even from the Congress ranks TN doesn’t have a Digvijay Singh or Pranab Mukerjee.
TN is dominated by film industry people, dialogue writers or actors and actresses!
So, Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi has no clue to Tamil Nadu. The Wiki Leaks also revealed how Sonia Gandhi is controlled by various power centres, sycophants and coteries. Rahul Gandhi’s’ incoherence or lack of grasp of the issues and firm leadership qualities have been commented even within the family circles.
So, the future hopes on Rahul Gandhi seem to be a bit premature, if not plain self-deception.
Congress politics in Delhi could take unexpected turns. Dr.Manmohan Singh may be personally honest but he may be dishonestly seeking to cling to power by all means. That may also explain why he overlooked Raja’s wrong doings for some three or four years. Now, he feigns ignorance or trust in colleagues.
A Prime Minister must lead from the front. No one knows what are Singh’s beliefs or convictions. Obviously he has none.
So, the Congress party faces crucial leadership issues that have to be sorted by some dedicated alternative leaders from the ranks.
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