The Congress leadership could not have bargained for a more relaxed backdrop for the one-day AICC session in the national capital last Saturday. The clouds of an unexpected mid-term Lok Sabha poll that hovered over the nation for some time had cleared. More significantly, the difficult Left partners had also just given the green signal to the Manmohan Singh Government to finalise an India-specific safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency that is a must before the US Administration takes remaining steps towards operationalising the Indo-US nuclear deal. The Left itself is in the midst of negotiating a tough political challenge over the Nandigram issue in its West Bengal backyard. What is more, the economy has been doing well despite concerns on the price front.

There was some degree of inevitability in the pre-session expectations that Rahul Gandhi would be the session’s focus. After all, this was the first session of the party’s highest body after his appointment as a party general secretary. The day-long session didn’t belie the expectations. Rahul spoke at the session and his speech did arouse considerable excitement among the gathered delegates. However, the party leadership led by Sonia Gandhi seemingly made no conscious effort to reduce the session into a mere Rahul-show. It suggests both acute awareness of the political realities of the time and maturity on the part of Sonia.

True, the Congress president has left nobody in much doubt about her intentions to promote Rahul as the next generation party leader. Yet, she waited for over three years to appoint him as a party general secretary. The party rank and file might be impatient about projecting Rahul as the Congress candidate for the Prime Minister’s post. Sonia, however, seems to be conscious about its pitfalls at a time when the party is compelled to practise coalition politics. Indeed, the sum and substance of Sonia’s presidential address at the session is very clear: the Congress is in no position to abandon coalition politics at present. And, the party will have to work to strengthen itself, pursuing the legitimate objective of coming to power on its own steam in future within the confines of whatever legitimate space that might be available to each partner in a coalition. Essentially, it is a renewed vote of confidence for coalition politics which Sonia first embraced at the party’s brainstorming session in Shimla in 2003.