Congress brings in next gen leaders but aims to handle seniors with caution

In appointing Navjot Sidhu as Punjab Congress chief despite objections voiced by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, Congress has given a clear indication of its next-generation plan.

In recent appointments of the grand old party like Revanth Reddy as Telangana PCC Chief (June 2021), Kannur MP K Sudhakaran as Kerala Congress chief (June 2021), Nana Patole as Maharashtra chief (February 2021) and Hardik Patel (July 2020) as Working President of Gujarat, ignoring objections from strong entrenched regional leaders there, a trend is noticeable.

A party functionary said Congress is mindful that a prolonged dependence on ageing veterans can ultimately kill the party as in Assam and Himachal where party veterans Tarun Gogoi and Virbhadra Singh won several elections but kept the party in their iron fist and did not allow a second leadership to grow. After both leaders passed, the party is gasping for breath in these states.

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Lok Sabha MP Reddy, 53, was made Telangana state chief even though he had joined the party only three years ago in 2017. Sidhu had also joined Congress in 2017 after a three year-stint with BJP. Reddy, before joining Congress had stints with TDP, TRS and BJP's Youth wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. Nana Patole, 58, moved from Congress to BJP and then back to Congress. All were given key roles as the Congress felt they were energetic, young leaders and could serve longterm interests of the party.

Patole, who has given Congress a voice in the state, is being assisted by six working presidents, Sidhu by four. "The party wants fighting, fit leaders and is also not averse to a few lateral entries to boost its armoury. Performance is the key," a leader said.

Addressing a group of social media workers of the party last week, Rahul Gandhi had said, "There are many people who are not scared but are outside the Congress. All these people are ours. Bring them in, and those scared within our party should be shunted out. We want fearless people."

While decisions to promote young leaders in Haryana and Rajasthan are also on the anvil, the party is treading with caution even as it seems inclined to move to the next generation after many dilemmas in recent years.

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Sonia Gandhi recently had a meeting with Kamal Nath, who later had a meeting with Ghulam Nabi Azad. Gandhi is also learnt to have met two other members from G-23, considered a dissenter group. The party, in a rejig of its Parliamentary groups last week, brought in for Lok Sabha strategy Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor, both from the G-23 group, which wrote to the party chief seeking structural changes.

While promoting young futuristic leadership is being pushed as the core agenda of change, Sonia Gandhi is keen not to antagonise veterans like Ashok Gehlot and Bhupinder Singh Hooda in states like Rajasthan and Haryana.

The Congress owes to Hooda for its revival in 2019 Assembly polls and despite growing discomfiture in the Sachin Pilot camp, the party is not in a tearing hurry to get him what he wants and sidelining Gehlot seems out of question, at least for the time being.

One reason is that Rajasthan is a party ruled state — one of the only three in which the party is in power on its own (others being Punjab and Chhattisgarh) and is clearly not in a mood to rock the boat after having lost Madhya Pradesh to BJP within one year of winning it after 15 years.

Some 'please all' formula will be worked out there. Unlike Punjab, where elections are due in next nine months, polls are two and half years away in Rajasthan.

"It's a tight-rope walk. Will change all in one go does not work in a party like Congress," says a leader.