Individuals like Gurudas Kamat, a member of the CWC, preferred to resign rather than subject himself to the humiliation of playing second-fiddle to ‘outsiders’ as the issues racking the party in his state remained unaddressed.With states like Meghalaya and Mizoram imploding in similar fashion, a Tripura promoted regional Barman dynasty did the reverse, decimating the Congress by walking out itself. Senior leaders like Himanto Sharma, despite appealing to the central dynasty for over three years for a greater role, preferred an honourable exit, rather than expend his energies currying favour with disinterested General Secretaries in charge of the Congress’ eastern outposts and the completely out-of-sync supremos who they report to. The fact that there is no inner party mechanism even at the CWC member level for discourse suggests complete ineptitude of both the General Secretary and party leadership. Jogi commands the vote of the dominant Satnami SC community, which comprises nearly half the state’s population. The issue before the Congress therefore isn't just about dynastic succession - which upsets the Congress worker as much as the young voter - it's also about the entrenching of the smaller dynasts, and the collective inability of the Congress as a whole to forge a strategy that keeps it relevant and consolidates the states where it is in power. In Chattisgarh, BJP three-term chief minister Raman Singh is fast racking up anti-incumbency points as the state moves towards polls in 2018. The Congress in Assam was a classic example of a regional dynastic hegemon.jpeg There are rebellions in virtually every state the Congress once ruled, and there are rebellions in every state that it now rules.Dual centres of power in an all-India party is but natural but state leaders that are left dangling without recourse to strategizing and staying relevant for the future will perforce look for new pastures.
The perpetuation of the Assam dynasts was in sync with the Congress’ myopic scheme of things.S. The trigger was the Mahajot of the Congress-Left in West Bengal with which the Congress was at loggerheads for over five decades.The Chavans, the Shindes, the Ranes, Bhujbals, and Pawars, to name a few, besides various sugar and industry fiefdoms promoted over decades by the Congress-NCP have been comprehensively decimated in Maharashtra. In Odisha, the BJD’s Naveen Patnaik is in his fourth term as chief minister. Rajashekar Reddy’s legacy, bifurcating the state and setting off its own decimation in a state that had once reposed complete faith in the Congress even during its post-Emergency country-wide electoral rout. The Congress had begun to see its own chances rising until two weeks ago when its strongest leader in the state, former chief minister Ajit Jogi, decided to leave the party, calling the state party unit a ‘B team’ of the BJP. And while the political churning is natural, given that the Congress is in opposition and only has a Rajya Sabha where it can thwart the BJP, is it time for the Congress to look within, to examine whether it has a future beyond the Gandhis Spooked by the spectre of a Narasimha Rao redux, does the ‘first family’ have the courage and the vision to allow the rise from the ranks of a non-Gandhi Will the Congress come unglued if that happens Or, is this the BJP, facing anti-incumbency in three key states, doing what it does best – talking up a storm. However, it must be said that in Andhra Pradesh, it was just the reverse, with the Congress bigwigs denying the dominance of Y. Din975 Whether the well-entrenched old-guard will ever cede space for a much needed renaissance in the Congress remains an issue.The fruitless stratagem of Rajya Sabha obstructionism leading to parliamentary gridlock is a tactic that should not be followed by a responsible party.The political climate post-2014 May is a complete rejection of family-run dynastic politics.