Congress has been losing one tall leader after another due to its high command’s follies
It is irrelevant whether Shankarsinh Vaghela quit the Congress on his own or the party threw him out. What is important is that the Congress is now in doldrums in Gujarat when the Assembly election is barely four months away. It had been widely acknowledged that Vaghela was the Congress's best bet to offer stiff resistance to the Bharatiya Janata Party which has ruled the State for close to two decades now. But when the party is in a self-destruct mode in State after State, with the so-called high command disoriented and directionless, there is little that any leader can do. The mishandling in Gujarat is reminiscent of the Congress's self-infliction of wounds in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, where its Delhi-based leaders failed to give the respect that is due to tall local leaders. Assam's Himanta Biswa Sarma is a good example — he was shabbily treated by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, resigned in disgust, joined the BJP and crafted a stunning victory for his new party in the Northeastern State. A similar game nearly played out in Punjab, where Captain Amarinder Singh threatened to walk out of the party if he continued to be marginalised and humiliated. Eventually, he stayed back but only after he had his way. The Congress's win in that State in the recently Assembly election was entirely due to his leadership, and senior Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi had nothing to take credit for. With Vaghela gone, the Congress faces a near impossible task of ousting the BJP from Gujarat. Even with his being around, the party was not exactly poised to win, but at least there was hope of a contest. The Congress may take heart that Vaghela hasn't returned (yet) to the BJP, but this is little consolation. Vaghela is not the kind to slip into retirement, and could be more than a nuisance for the party he has left behind. Even if he does not explicitly back the BJP, he has the heft to steal votes from the Congress — which is fine with the ruling party there. Perhaps he'll form his own outfit; we don't know. Congress spokespersons have been saying that Vaghela had been conspiring to take over as the State party chief, and underlining that the party is bigger than individuals. The first is not confirmed but the second is indeed laughable given that the Nehru-Gandhi family members are certainly considered larger-than-life figures in the Congress. Indeed, if the party is bigger than any individual — a proposition which cannot be contested — then how is it that the party's fortunes are being allowed to go downhill because of fatal political miscalculations by high-ranking individualsIJ
Vaghela's exit has left the Congress divided and leaves a question mark on its ability to get its nominees elected to even the Rajya Sabha, let alone win an Assembly election. The recent cross-voting in the Congress in favour of the NDA’s presidential candidate (11 of the 56 Congress MlAs backed Ram Nath Kovind) had showed that all was not well. Certain Congress leaders are now downplaying the Vaghela development, saying his departure will not harm the party since he was never a ‘Congressman' at heart. It’s true that Vaghela always said he had roots in the RSS. But the Congress still banked on him for more than 15 years!