The Congress has reasons to rejoice in its spectacular performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha election even though voters have mandated the grand old party to sit in the Opposition for the next five years. For the first time since 2014, Rahul Gandhi is able to shed the tag of a “failure.”
His biggest contribution is not as much as winning two parliamentary seats from Wayanad and Raebareli, but in maximising the party’s vote share from 19 to 27 per cent. This is one achievement that Rahul earned through gruelling yatras, crisscrossing first from South to North and then from East to West. His mass interaction and direct communication gave him a supreme confidence that surprised many of his party colleagues, friends and foes alike.
Rahul, who will turn 54 in June this year, has finally arrived on the national scene, earning the respect and dignity he deserves. The Congress, in turn, has found a leader whose political instincts can be trusted. I have often argued that political loyalty is highly transactional. In the context of the Gandhis and the Congress, both sides had been a tad rattled and embarrassed that the fifth-generation dynast and fifth-party president from the family had not been a success. June 4, 2024, has wiped away that stigma forever.
The bond between Gandhis and the Congress is all set to be further cemented due to the Priyanka factor. Congress leaders of all hues and shades were delighted to see Priyanka as an effective campaigner throughout the seven phases of electioneering. Her responses to Narendra Modi’s line of attack were spontaneous, yet dignified. She exhibited the ability to gel with party leaders, and act as crisis manager and party manager rolled into one. Her political equations with Rahul have been easy, friendly and accommodating, negating any prospects of “rival camps” being created within the Congress ecosystem.
Senior party leaders say there are not many instances in any political party across the world where a brother-sister jodi has worked so well in a democratic polity. In the last three years, she has filled in the role of Ahmed Patel in sorting out internal differences, conciliation and turf wars. Priyanka is now set to contest Raebareli Lok Sabha bypolls which are likely to be held along with the Assembly polls of Haryana and Maharashtra. This will be a unique occasion when the Indian parliament will have three members belonging to a family.
Rahul, Priyanka and Sonia Gandhi wish to accord much of the credit to AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge. Since October 2023, Kharge has maintained a punishing 18-hour-a-day work schedule without a break. Kharge was instrumental in holding INDI alliance talks, communicating, and shuttling. His personal rapport with many non-NDA parties and individuals has helped tide over crises and delicate situations. Kharge’s social background has helped the party increase its social base in Karnataka, a feat both D.K. Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah failed to achieve.
Rahul-Priyanka-Kharge trio is all set to call the shots in an atmosphere of harmony and mutual respect.
The writer is a Visiting Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation. A well-known political analyst, he has written several books, including ‘24 Akbar Road’ and ‘Sonia: A Biography’. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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