Absentee Rahul unsettles Cong

Party strategy in disarray as five crucial assembly elections approach.

Venkatesh Kesari | NT

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s absence ahead of crucial assembly polls in five states has upset the party’s election strategy in these states especially at a time when the top leaders of the BJP including Prime Minister Narendra Modi are upping their game.

“Rahul Gandhi is on a brief personal visit.BJP and its media friends should not spread rumours unnecessarily” said Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala amid unconfirmed reports he could be away for at least a month.

AICC officials refused to disclose the place and return of Rahul Gandhi. But the former Congress president and the sitting MP is absent at a time when Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu is pressing for his own projection as the party’s chief ministerial candidate, thereby undermining the current chief minister and the party’s Dalit face Charanjit Singh Channi. And in Uttarakhand, former chief minister Harish Rawat is pushing for his projection as the Congress’s face.

Earlier , the Congress was sure of its victory in these two states besides Goa. But factional fights within the party and emergence of the AAP and Kisan leaders on the election scenario ,are making the electoral battle complex.

Rahul Gandhi who is virtually leading the party inside and outside parliament,is taking important decisions including the appointments in the organisation on one one hand and on the other,he is taking on the BJP from the front. But a section of the party feels this not sufficient to defeat the BJP. “We need a strategy, planning and selection of right candidates”, they said.

But the Congress is not even open about Rahul Gandhi’s election schedule. Rahul was scheduled to address a party rally in Moga district of Punjab on January 3 to kick start campaigning in the state, where the party is already in power. However, now it is likely to postponed.

The BJP will begin the poll campaign in Punjab with Narendra Modi likely to hold a rally on January 5 in the state, according to party sources. This will be Modi’s first rally in Punjab after the repeal of farm laws.

The government’s willingness to give MSP guarantee shows its desperation to mend fences with the farmers and bolster its electoral prospects during the next round of assembly elections.