Cong veterans still doubt Rahul’s leadership qualities!

After the substantial increase in share of votes and seats in Gujarat assembly and the winning of all three seats in Rajasthan bypolls, newly elevated AICC president Rahul Gandhi has to some extent silenced his opponents within the party who had been questioning his leadership qualities. Though he still has to go a long way, things may start improving in his favour if he keeps control on his words. The growing maturity would also help him to take on his critics, some of whom are Indira Gandhi loyalists who still doubt his leadership qualities. Since all these watchful eyes are now set on him to see him performing, he has to be very careful while handling various party issues. One of the critics was quoted by a news agency as saying that “a time will soon come when questions will be raised from within the Congress ranks on the leadership qualities of Rahul’. Majority Congressmen feel that he is not the stuff to be projected as the party’s prime ministerial candidate in the next General Elections in the country. Though the critic may by all means like to see Congress growing from strength to strength, he went to the extent of saying that Rahul’s leadership was not acceptable to the country and there was none to provide direction to the party. Even some AICC leaders privately confess that certain people around Sonia had never wished Rahul to succeed her because they knew if he establishes himself as a leader and if his accessibility increases among the masses, they would themselves become irrelevant. These leaders are alleged to be working overtime to derail him, instead of guiding him on the right path. Surrounded by them, Rahul would virtually be in a dilemma. Sonia had an overriding desire to see her son succeed in politics, but she also didn’t want to do things without her ‘yes-men’ in the party, who actually never wanted to see Rahul as their leader.

The rivals of Rahul and his Congress party have often accused him of being ‘confused from head to toe’, saying: “How can you expect vision from a man who is confusion personified? Given all these apprehensions expressed by the party elders about him, he needs to put extra efforts to establish himself as a leader. Notwithstanding his criticism by his own partymen, he can’t be taken lightly by other political parties. In the Gujarat polls, he even visited temples and performed pooja during his election campaign in the state. His this conduct had surprised the countrymen, especially because none from his family has done so in the past, thinking that it could annoy party’s Muslim voters.

BJP had termed it as ‘temple politics’ and strongly criticised him for visiting temples to seek votes of Hindus. But it does reflect his thought process which shows that he can attempt anything that gives strength to the party and brings voters to the Congress fold. It now remains to be seen how the party old heads comment on him in future.