If Gehlot is elected as Cong chief, he will have to strive hard to revive the party

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is said to be leading the race for Congress president; and this is not because he is a party stalwart, which he is, but because he enjoys the blessings of the Gandhi family. A non-family member will head the ‘grand old party’ after decades since senior leader Rahul Gandhi said no

family member should head the party. So, in effect, Gehlot is the family’s nominee. Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, who was considered close to the family but later joined the rebel G-23 group, is reportedly keen to take on Gehlot. Some other leaders may also enter the fray. The Kerala MP, however, has failed to enthuse many leaders. The Congress units in 10 States, including in his home State, have

reportedly opposed him. Some of Tharoor’s party colleagues in Kerala have said they would support only those who recognise the Nehru family’s prominence. Gehlot clearly enjoys that support but the 71-year-old Congress veteran is not very happy, for the Congress president’s post comes with

conditionality: He has to leave the top office in Rajasthan. This will be a bitter bite for him as his bête noire in the State, Sachin Pilot, is likely to

succeed him. There are media reports suggesting that he wanted the next Chief Minister of his choice, a demand that doesn’t seem to have been

acceded to. For the top Congress leadership, the intra-party election may be an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: Get a non-family party

president, thus blunting the BJP’s attacks of the GOP being a family-run party; and putting an end to the Gehlot-Pilot tussle in Rajasthan.

The interim chief of the Congress, Sonia Gandhi, before her meeting with Gehlot, had an hour-long chat with Pilot. While the proposed arrangement — Gehlot as the Congress chief and Pilot as Rajasthan Chief Minister — will suit the party’s top brass, it may not exactly delight Gehlot. He may head the country’s oldest political party but, with Pilot as the Chief Minister, the old warhorse will have hardly any say in his own home State. The reasons are obvious: There was a lot of bad blood between Gehlot and his former Deputy Chief Minister, Pilot. The Congress will hope that Gehlot, if elected, would focus on the new job rather than bemoaning the loss of the

previous one. The bigger issue would be the interference of the family in running the party. If that continues, and in the manner the interference continues, the chances of party revival will be considerably diminished. While Rahul has been consistent in his criticism and condemnation of the Narendra Modi regime, and his Bharat Jodo Yatra has also gained some traction, his and his family members’ performance has been, to put it mildly, suboptimal. Some of the Gandhis’ decisions have been completely bereft of rationality. Gehlot, if elected, will have a lot of baggage to deal with. Reviving the party will be an uphill task.