Raipur, May 19, 2012
Congress claims that it has matured as an opposition in past thirteen months and is confident to win 2013 Assembly polls comfortably. However, polarisation persists to be a major concern in the party. Even national leadership is unsure of the party victory in this circumstance, thanks to Rahul Gandhi - who conveyed this message comprehensively to the state Congress during his May 18 Raipur visit.
The party has launched incessant scathing attack on ruling BJP since April last. Its ‘expose-BJP campaign’ gained momentum in the beginning of this year. PCC president Nandkumar Patel was desperate to start the year with a bang by using X-factors like Rahul Gandhi in the drive, but the latter, as accustomed, stalled his visit till May 18.
While the party had anticipated that Gandhi will use his usual tone against the BJP in Chhattisgarh too, the ‘youth icon’ - who had recently swallowed bitter pill in Uttar Pradesh, did the other way round and discreetly castigated the senior leaders for using muscle power against each other instead of posing united threat to the ruling BJP.
Gandhi, like his other visits, had done ample homework before coming to Chhattisgarh. The state Congress incharge BK Hariprasada had explicitly informed him about the party’s actual condition beforehand. Besides, Gandhi had received large number of complaints against senior leaders.
Keeping in mind that Chhattisgarh Congress is divided into six factions led by Ajit Jogi, Vidyacharan Shukla, Nandkumar Patel, Ravindra Choubey, Charandas Mahant and Motilal Vora and knowing that the state would go for polls next year, Gandhi decided to first make a wake up call during his Raipur visit before training his guns towards incumbent BJP government.
He also hinted that the party lacked strength in rural pockets and never respected workers. He indirectly proved that the party was not fit to win 2013 polls and needed much hard work.
During his sojourn, his language was terse, blunt and apparent indicator that the party should stop daydreaming and start shaping in as a unit. Moreover, as if Gandhi’s attitude was not enough to foment the senior leaders, the DCC/BCC presidents the YC/NSUI members and the panchayat representatives exposed the filthy politics prevailed in state unit.
The highlight of the Rahul Gandhi-visit was a complaint of an YC elected representative against Ravindra Choubey which not only startled the latter but also left him tearful. This was an audacious attack of one faction against the CLP leader who had once been its stalwart.
In this backdrop, the party ironically claimed before Gandhi that it had formed different committees, launched protest movements against BJP government and succeeded in mobilising workers.
The BJP too has low opinion about Congress. It thinks that the opposition’s poll preparation claims were superficial. Fair enough. The Congress might have organised massive rallies and termed the BJP government corrupt citing CAG reports, but in rural areas – road, water, electricity, health and education are still the major issues.
Although, anti-incumbency factor can affect the poll results this does not mean that a political party will win the battle without working at ground level. Be it a BJP or Congress, the 2013 polls will be acid test for both the parties.
While the BJP, being in power, will have full government machinery behind it, the Congress would only have its hard work to count when the time will come to settle scores in elections. If you are in opposition, there should be only one jargon for victory – unity, which unfortunately is lacking in Congress.
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