In the three-day ‘Chintan Shivir’ organized in Dwarka, the Congress gave a clear message to the leaders who had left the party in Gujarat. Still fresh with exit of at least 10 senior leaders, many of them gone BJPsenior leader Rahul Gandhi The Mahabharata attracted such turncoats to be labeled as “Kauravas”, who were more than welcome to leave, and that the Congress could have won with just five good leaders (presumably the Pandavas).
AICC general secretary in-charge Raghu Sharma also made a similar point and said that leave is better for those who do not follow party discipline.
While the Congress has been struggling in Gujarat since the 2017 assembly elections, when victory seemed unlikely for a while, February was one of the worst months. Between February 17 and 27, senior leaders such as former spokesperson Jairajsinh Parmar, two-time MLA from Lunawada Hirabhai Patel, former Mehsana Congress President Rajendrasinh Darbar and former Leader of Opposition in Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation Dinesh Sharma left the party. BJP.
The CR Patil-led BJP, which had once dismissed Congress defectors as unimportant in the party’s plans, put up posters welcoming Sharma at the Ahmedabad square. The BJP has recently inducted six corporators as well. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which stunned by winning seats with the AIMIM in the February 2021 local elections, while the two parties had no organizational base in Gujarat.
Rahul Gandhi’s comments indicate that the Congress regards this vote as a yearning for change in Gujarat – which now has a BJP government since 1995. He told party men in his speech that there was an “opportunity” for the party, and that people in Gujarat were watching the Congress, but they were not clear about “what the Congress wants to do. How it wants to go.” And who are the people driving it to achieve those goals”.
For some, getting out seems to be another run on the beleaguered party. However, Congress sources said, the value of these leaders to the BJP is optics more than anything. Unlike the defeat that preceded the Rajya Sabha elections in 2017, when Leader of the Opposition Shankersinh Vaghela and at least 13 other MLAs resigned, or when former MP Sagar Raika joined the BJP, the 10 who left recently are lightweight.
Some Congressmen even argue that the space created by the exit is likely to provide more room for the rise of a new leadership. In his address at the Chintan Shivir, Raghu Sharma said the party “needs to change the way it fights elections”. Invoking “new blood”, he said someone trying to stop them would be “wrong”.
It was also a nod to older leaders, at a time when many high-profile leaders who were inducted into the Congress over Gandhi’s intervention are waiting in the wings. they include Hardik PatelWho led the 2015 Patidar movement and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani.
The old watchmen have been shouting openly to Patel and Mevani on the importance of Gandhi. On October 22 last year, Gandhi had invited 23 senior Gujarat Congress leaders, including Mevani, to have a one-on-one discussion on the issues they faced within the party.
In December last year, the Congress did a balancing act by appointing two stalwarts – OBC leader Jagdish Thakor as Gujarat Congress President and tribal leader Sukhram Rathwa as Leader of Opposition in the Assembly – replacing youth leaders Amit Chavda and Paresh Dhanani.
“What Rahul Gandhi said in the Chintan Shivir was with utmost clarity. He wants such people to come in Congress who work for the party. Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said that a clear message has also been given to senior leaders that they stand shoulder to shoulder with all hardworking party workers.
On the Kaurava jibe, Doshi said: “Rahul spoke in the Mahabharata in the context of the war between dharma and adharma, truth and untruth. He talked about those who want to fight for Congress, saying that priority should be given to them and not those who do not want to fight. His message was that if you want to remain in the party, you have to fight together.
Congress leaders hope that this reinvestment, even if it is a small step now, will keep AAP out of Gujarat. Arvind KejriwalThe BJP-led party is targeting states where the BJP and the Congress have traditionally been in a double race, and any gains from this could further erode the Congress in the state.
Party sources said the “division of votes” by parties like AAP and AIMIM was neither good for the Congress nor for the BJP. A leader insisted, “There has always been a fight between the BJP and the Congress in Gujarat, there is no place for a third force.