Sir — This refers to the editorial, “long live the king” (November 6). For the Congress regional satraps, the dynasty came in handy to end perennial infights to willingly share mutual denial of the top chair and the arrangement functioned till its president produced results. The tide turned with the loss of the tall Rajasekhara Reddy of Andhra Pradesh and the weakening of the Congress began.
Now, it is the turn of Rahul Gandhi to redeem the lost shine of a premier national party that ruled the post-independence decades and in the process prove his own mettle. In the current run of politics, the party needs to reinvent itself much more than its president.
The rapid rise of the BJP could give it the much-needed fillip to re-consolidate. How quickly this gets done depends on how eager are the congressmen to explore ways to sink their inner differences and be back to winning ways. May be that Rahul Gandhi would yet prove to be the right choice. The strength of the Congress lies in its experience and good bench strength — a major weakness thus far of the BJP.