After shocks of Sonia Gandhi’s Congress reshuffle: Pain mostly felt in South; Punjab worried

Sonia Gandhi
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Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi

Even as Congress president Sonia Gandhi  set off for United States  over the week-end for medical treatment  along with her  son Rahul Gandhi,  party units  across the  country are   still  recovering  from aftershocks of a reshuffle that  she initiated last week . The new appointments have brought such disappointment that those shunted out are wondering what were the criteria  that  were used in removing people.  Or more precisely what criteria was used in inducting new office-bearers . Or if any thought  had really gone into the exercise ?

While no one seemed to mind retiring aging veterans like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ambika Soni from routine party work, state units of  Punjab , Karnataka and Telengana  are surprised by new replacements. Murmurs  are being heard particularly loud  in  southern states about   AICC functionaries  assigned to manage them. It was felt none of the new appointees  were picked because of   any merit quotient– the only criteria that seems to have worked in their favour  is that  they must  have either been close to AICC General Secretary K.C. Venugopal or have passed muster of  Rahul Gandhi’s close aide K. Raju. Karnataka Congress leaders  are  particularly upset with the selection of senior leader   Gadag MLA H.K.Patil to  replace  Mallikarjun Kharge  as AICC incharge of Maharashtra.
Selection of Patil has become contentious as he is being considered  too resourceful for comfort  and  was reportedly the  only  Congress candidate for  whom Sonia Gandhi  had personally campaigned  in the last assembly elections(2018).
As for bias in  influencing decisions newly appointed in- charge for Telengana Manicka Tagore not only had advantage of  working with AICC General Secretary  K.C.Venugopal in Karnataka but also has  had the privilege of hosting Venugopal in his official accommodation in Delhi for some time– as he being   a Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha MP.(Of course  it is another matter Venugopal may no longer need his hospitality as  he  has got elected to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan and is now  entitled to his own  Lutyens house).
Which brings to question why  Tagore  replaced R.C. Khuntia — did  he handle Telangana in 2019 Lok Sabha polls  ? Apparently it  seems performance  was not used as a criteria for axing  the AICC functionaries. Under Khuntia’s watch  the Congress may have won three Lok Sabha seats but it still did not matter. The Congress  under the Gandhi siblings is truly like  what goes on inside  any corporate office–if your boss likes you, you can have kick*** performance and yet  could  still be rewarded, That’s what happened with Rahul Gandhi’s favourites  like Jitnedra Singh and Chella Kumar who drew a blank in Odisha and Goa. They were shifted and given  new assignments.
However, one disturbing dimension of the reshuffle is  dropping  of Asha Kumari , who was in-charge of Punjab . Asha , who at present happens to be the longest serving woman MLA– she is a six term MLA from Himachal Pradesh– was  reportedly eased out  as a  sop to please the   ever sulking and restless Navjot Singh Sidhu. Though Asha insists she wants to focus on winning her own  assembly election for seventh time in 2022, party sources say Sidhu wanted her out as she was seen as being too close to Chief Minister  Capt Amarinder Singh and a stumbling block to his plans .
Sidhu , who dreams of being Punjab CM  in 2022 assembly  elections , now apparently has set his  eyes on Punjab PCC post . It is believed Gandhi siblings– more likely Priyanka Vadra– would do anything to retain Sidhu  within the Congress fold.It is in this sort of rush to keep those  threatening to leave the  Congress  that new assignments have been handed out. Bhakta Charan Das– who  completely destroyed Congress prospects in Kalahandi because of his ill-conceived protests against development — was hurriedly handed Mizoram and Manipur so that he does not leave the party. Ironically he was deemed as an asset by Rahul aide K.Raju.

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