NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD: On a day Rahul Gandhi was the only one to file the nomination for the post of Congress president — making his elevation a foregone conclusion — the celebration among his faithful was marred by a spat between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar over dynastic politics.
In January 2014, Aiyar created a controversy over his “chai-walah” jibe aimed at Modi and gave the BJP prime ministerial nominee an opportunity to brand the Congress as elitist. The BJP launched a “chai-pe-charcha” campaign that was highly successful. Aiyar embarrassed his party through a self-goal again by comparing Rahul’s elevation to the ascension to the Mughal throne by Aurangzeb after Shah Jahan.
“Did elections ever happen during Mughal rule? After Jehangir, Shah Jahan came. Was any election held? After Shah Jahan it was understood Aurangzeb would be the leader,” Aiyar said.
Modi, who is campaigning in Gujarat, immediately picked up the remark and aimed it at the Congress.
“So the Congress accepts it is a family party? We don’t want this Aurangzeb rule,” thundered the PM. Aiyar later tried to clarify that he meant to highlight that the Congress was a democratic party but the remark came too late.
“Don’t compare both. During Mughal rule it was understood that after Jehangir, Shah Jahan would be the leader. Here, anyone is free to contest against Rahul Gandhi. It is a totally democratic process,” he said.It was a theoretical point because no one else had chosen to contest.
Rahul Gandhi, who sported a stubble, happily posed for the cameras as batches of state leaders came to wish him. He began by meeting former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former President Pranab Mukherjee, who put a tilak on his forehead as if anointing the Gandhi family scion.
Later Rahul filed his nomination papers at the AICC headquarters, flanked by Manmohan Singh and veterans Sushil Kumar Shinde, Anand Sharma and Oscar Fernandes.
According to Mullapally Ramachandran, chairman of the Central Election Authority, overseeing the election for the post of Congress president, 89 nominations by various state leaders were filed in support of Rahul.Once he takes over as the head of the 130-year-old party, Rahul Gandhi would face three main challenges: winning key assembly polls next year, revamping the party machinery and forging Opposition unity ahead of the 2019 national elections.
For the moment he is trying to get the caste arithmetic right to end the BJP’s 22-year reign in the state.
In 2018 he will wade into Assembly polls in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in all of which he would be in a straight contest with the BJP.
The Congress’ record in Assembly elections since Rahul Gandhi became vice president in 2013 is poor.
He was in charge when the party tailspun into its lowest tally in the Lok Sabha: just 44 seats in the 2014 general election.
In 2018 Rahul Gandhi would have to forge alliances with seniors from Sharad Pawar to Mamata Banerjee to Lalu Prasad Yadav who have been more used to dealing with Sonia Gandhi.
No modesty left in Congress, says PM Modi
”The Congress has abandoned all public modesty. It has gone bankrupt, as it is going to make a person who is out on bail in corruption case its president,” Modi said at a rally in Gujarat, apparently referring to the National Herald case. Parties, he said, would think 17 times before making those out on bail even a district unit chief