Though crest-fallen by the inexorable pace of developments befalling the State and the party they belong to, the Congress rank and file sound confident that the party's vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, would steer the party ship safe and sound for the survival of the now-defunct Congress Ministry.
"He must now rise to the challenge and show his political acumen to win the rebels over to the party's side at the nick of time even at the risk of sacrificing Harish Rawat in the political sweepstakes," said Congress leader KS Yadav, who was found roaming around the State party headquarters on Rajpur Road.
Congress party Mahanagar (Roorkee) president Karim Khan said that the rebels can hardly refuse to fall in line if Rahul manoeuvres them correctly. "The party is supreme. We must not yield power to the BJP on a silver platter."
If required, Harish Rawat must be convinced to give way to a leader who can rightly cement things. The case is not yet lost even in case of Vijay Bahuguna who keeps crying hoarse of the individual Harish Rawat and not the party," Yadav said, eyes alight with a never-say-die flame.
Another found staring at a poster featuring Rahul Gandhi at the State party office muttered under his breath: "We wonder why the party's vice-president is steering clear of the crisis when the BJP top brass is rushing down here to tilt things in their party's favour." Asked to explain things, he said, "We do not want Ambika Soni to be sent to defuse the crisis. None other than Rahul Gandhi can do a magic by melting the hardened hearts of the rebels and make them to switch back to the Congress. The party must not hesitate to go for an out of the box way to resolve the stalemate. If the BJP wins in its diabolical game in installing its own Government in the State by stealth they would not allow any non-BJP Government to breathe easy," he said.