Will Rahul Gandhi become leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha?
A recent political development is the intense speculation over whether Congress MP and former party president Rahul Gandhi will become the Congress leader in the Lok Sabha. This follows reports that the party high command is planning to replace Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the current Congress leader in the lower house, in the interest of maintaining a working relationship with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress (TMC), particularly when it comes to parliamentary affairs. It is an open secret that Chowdhury, who is also party president in West Bengal, has a history of bitter rivalry with Mamata. During the recent Assembly election in the state, he launched a scathing attack on the TMC and the West Bengal CM, even though the Congress high command steered clear of campaigning directly against her. With TMC returning to power in the state with an emphatic victory against the BJP, the West Bengal chief minister has become a strong contender to lead opposition forces against the ruling BJP at the national level. In fact, her un-appointed political adviser Prashant Kishor and NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) chief Sharad Pawar have held several rounds of parleys, with Pawar hosting several Opposition leaders at his residence in Delhi to brainstorm about the possibility of forming an Opposition alliance. Interestingly, this initiative has begun without establishing the Congress as the nucleus of the process. This has apparently made the Congress desperate to open channels of communication with other Opposition parties and repair ruptured ties. Chowdhurys removal, though not confirmed by Congress high command or sources close to Gandhi family, could be a step in that direction. His position as leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha may be a handicap in chalking out a joint strategy with the TMC against the Narendra Modi-led government in the Lok Sabha. When contacted by INDIA TODAY, Chowdhury said he had no news of his impending replacement. Some Congress insiders say that another reason Chowdhury may lose his post is because party president Sonia Gandhi wants to placate the 23 leaders who wrote to her in August last year demanding an overhaul of the partys organisational structure and functioning. As there is a possibility of an organisational election within the next three months, Sonia wants to bring an end to the internal rift in the party by either creating a divide among the 23 leaders or by partly addressing their grievances. In the past year, she has offered alternative posts to several of the leaders so that there is no challenge to Rahul when he decides to return as Congress presidentand more importantly, so that they dont press hard for CWC (Congress Working Committee) elections. If CWC elections are held, the elected members cannot be removed by the Congress presidentthis could strengthen the opposition to the Gandhi family within the Congress. To avoid such a situation, there is now speculation that Manish Tewari or Shashi Tharoortwo of the 23 leadersmay be made the party leader in the Lok Sabha. Such speculation, however, has been rejected by several leaders. I think Chowdhury is spreading this rumour himself, says one of the 23 leaders, speaking on condition of anonymity. He wants the high command and come out with a statement dismissing these news reports. Ironically, Chowdhury, a Gandhi family loyalist, was one of the most vocal critics of the 23 leaders who wrote to Sonia Gandhi. Amid these developments, several Congress leaders sayoff the recordthat Rahul will take up the post himself. But if his close aides are to be believed, this is unlikely to happen. Given his past records in Parliament, he has never been a regular participant in the lower house debates. Till March this year, when the budget session has been going on, Rahul has clocked 53 per cent attendance against the national average of 82 per cent among all MPs. He did not attend the monsoon session at all in 2020. He cannot continue that trend as leader of the party in the Lok Sabha. And if he is planning to return as Congress president, the Gandhi scion is unlikely to take up an additional responsibility. Instead, if Chowdhury has to be replaced, the Congress first family may find another loyalist among its MPs in the lower house.