The exercise to elect the Congress president shows the relationship the party shares with change — across two time frames.
In the long term, this relationship is best defined by the famous French aphorism “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose” (the more things change, the more they stay the same). And in the short term, it is aptly described by the more common English cliché, “change is the only constant” (although the quote is really Greek, and dates back to 500 BCE).
And so, till Sunday last, the party central leadership’s (read, the Gandhis) preferred choice for party president was Ashok Gehlot.
Then the poor man was blindsided by his all-powerful supporters who apparently pulled a fast one on him while he was busy hosting the party’s central observers at his residence.
It wasn’t immediately known what this would do to his candidature, and various names (including Gehlot’s) did the rounds on Monday and Tuesday, but by Wednesday, it was clear that he was out of the race.
Then, perhaps before the Gandhis could say no, Digvijaya Singh, the man who never finds himself at a loss for words, announced his candidature – an announcement that was neither endorsed nor supported by most Congress members because it was not clear if he had the blessing of the Gandhis. Perhaps he did. Perhaps he did not.
By Thursday, it seemed that the Gandhis were having second thoughts (if they had had any first thoughts, that is) about Digvijaya Singh, and more names started doing the rounds.
It would be Wasnik.
No no, it would be Kharge.
Meanwhile came the news that the G23 – it should no longer be called by that name; G-X is better because no one really knows how many people there are in this grouping – was considering fielding its own candidate, Manish Tewari.
And then, with an eye firmly on the future, the party’s central leadership picked Mallikarjun Kharge, who is 80 years old. Digvijaya Singh then announced that he would not contest against Kharge, and sealed the deal by proposing the Karnataka veteran’s name. He did seem a bit miffed, though, and said that he had publicised his own candidature after checking with Kharge who’d expressed his unwillingness to contest. Then, Kharge may not have known he was contesting at the time.
To be fair, Kharge was perhaps the candidate who needed the least convincing. Gehlot had to be convinced to contest. And Digivijaya Singh, presumably, had to be convinced not to.
Before this week, questions were already being asked about the fairness of the elections for party president. It’s a long story, but at the core of this argument is the fact that the president will be elected by an electoral college that’s effectively been nominated by the party’s central leadership. In an ideal world, elections to Congress president would have been preceded by elections at block, district, and state levels. Then, in an ideal world …
Now it is clear that the election is not really one.
Where that leaves Shashi Tharoor, the other candidate – and at least he has been steadfast in his decision to contest – is clear. Indeed, the photographs of the two candidates filing their nominations makes this explicit. There’s Kharge, surrounded by just about every Congress leader of either real or presumed significance (with the exception of those accompanying Rahul Gandhi on his peregrinations, and Tharoor himself). And there’s Tharoor, surrounded by a bunch of relative unknowns.
There may be nothing official (nudge nudge, wink wink) about Kharge’s candidature, but everyone knows how it ends.
With the Gandhis still on top.
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