Perform or Perish

 

 

The Indian voters had said jai ho to the Congress, and party veterans were elated. But the young man who shaped the amazing victory, though satisfied with the unforeseen outcome, knew that he stood at the beginning of a long road. The very day after the victory bugle was sounded all young MPs were invited by Rahul Gandhi for high tea in the War Room on 15, Gurudwara, Rakab Ganj Road.

Initially most of them thought that the refreshments were just a prelude to the eagerly awaited announcement of Manmohan Singh’s new cabinet ministers. But they went back wiser. The Gandhi scion said not a word about this, and devoted his entire talk to the business of strengthening the organisation. His own assessment was that the century-old party needed to rebuild itself right from the grassroots.

At the end of Rahul’s speech an old pal of his wanted to know whether he planned to accept the offer to join the new cabinet. The man’s answer was an emphatic “NO”. Said Rahul: “As the youngest members of the Congress, our principal responsibility at this critical juncture is to re-dedicate ourselves to rebuilding the party. There will certainly be some young MPs in the new cabinet, but only those who have the approval of the prime minister and the party president.”

So well, the mind was clear and the message loud. And it has been like that since Day One. One doesn’t need to look far to see how unswerving the Congress this time has been in sticking to its proposed blueprint for the future. Right since the day the results came out, the party’s strategy has been to ensure that the pecking order stays undisturbed. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would continue to lead the government; Congress President Sonia Gandhi to manage the alliance; and Rahul would take charge of organisational matters.

Senior Congress leader Mohsina Kidwai told TSI that at his first press conference Rahul Gandhi was also emphatic about continuing with the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal and giving a completely free hand to Manmohan Singh.

Rahul was even overheard telling Singh at the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting, “Till the election results were announced much of it was my responsibility. But now you take charge because I have a very important assignment on my hands – I have to strengthen the party organisation.” A senior minister of the Jammu and & Kashmir cabinet who was there said he had never imagined that Rahul would mature so fast.

The other person who mostly stayed away from the cabinet formation issue was Sonia Gandhi, who did not venture beyond suggesting a few names to ensure the regional balance was kept. In that initial list were R. P. N. Singh from UP and Sachin Pilot from Rajastan; Beni Prasad Verma and Dr. Sanjay Singh had been left out. Verma, who was earlier with the Samajwadi Party, did sound a bit disappointed, yet conceded the fact that the cabinet-forming exercise was indeed impressive. Congress-watchers still recall the episode of May 2006 when, having completed two years in office, Manmohan Singh gave the Congress-led UPA government six marks out of ten. In the fact-sheet that was circulated at the press conference at No. 7, Race Course Road Manmohan had scribbled the assessment in his own hand. When journalists asked his media adviser Sanjay Baru whether this meant that the PM was unhappy with the performance of his own government, Baru had said that it merely signified that he wanted his own party and allies to do still better. Then only, he was convinced, would the poorest of the poor find relief.

The last time around, the PM had been highly dissatisfied with the portfolios held by the DMK, as also with his own partyman Shivraj Patil who had been made home minister. So this time Singh took some truly hard decisions. Patil, Arjun Singh and T. R. Balu, who had performed poorly, were thrown out.

Well placed sources said that at the CPP meeting Sonia Gandhi made it very clear that the mandate was for the good work done by the Manmohan Singh-led government and the PM’s own clean image. It was the common minimum programme that had enabled the party to reach the high tally. “To sustain it we need to give full support to Manmohan Singh so that he can do more wonderful work with his colleagues.”

Indeed, the party’s central message is as simple as it is clear: Be honest and work hard. Said cabinet minister Veerappa Moily: “The Manmohan Singh government’s achievement and the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were what handed the Congress its dramatic win. And we shall work overtime to fulfill the people’s great expectations. There can be no room for complacency.”

There is a good deal of truth in this. For, already the party has prepared a 100-day plan to ensure good governance. On how well the newly appointed ministers fare will depend which of them is retained and which shown the door. 'Manmohan was never a weak prime minister'

In a freewheeling interview veteran Congress leader and Central minister, Salman Khurshid, tells Pramod Kumar that he sees glorious days ahead for the new government and the Congress party

It is after two decades that the Congress has got such a huge vote tally. Tell me whom would you give the credit for this?

The credit goes to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The achievements of the UPA government and the decision to go it alone in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar helped us a lot. Voters also found no merit in L. K. Advani’s charge that Manmohan Singh was a weak prime minister. The election outcome proves how much the voters trust his leadership.

The prime minister invited Rahul Gandhi to join the government, but he refused. Why do you think he did that?

Inviting a leader to join the cabinet is the prerogative of the prime minister. Yet while his was a great gesture, Rahul’s declining to join the government was no less a mark of greatness. It just shows how serious he is about strengthening the organisation.

The Congress won 21 seats in Uttar Pradesh. Would you say the Rahul factor played a key role in making this possible?

Last time Soniaji declined the prime ministership and remained chairperson of the UPA. Rahul has taken the same route. Well before the election process kicked off, both Sonia and Rahul had made it abundantly clear that Manmohan Singh would be the party’s prime ministerial candidate. There was no confusion in the Congress camp, and all this made a difference in UP. In the meantime the Congress tried hard to have seat adjustments with the Samajwadi Party, but it didn’t work out. So finally we decided to go it alone and it paid off handsomely. Our fine showing in UP shows the extent to which Congress’s fortunes in the state have revived.

It appears that this time the minorities in the state voted heavily for the Congress…

My own perception is that the minorities were sick of being cynically used by other parties. This has happened in every election in the past two decades. Their trust has been abused by every regime. So this time they decided to vote for the party which would respect their sentiments, and they settled for the Congress. They had clearly had enough of the Samajwadi Party and the BSP.

This time the Manmohan Singh government has set a 100-day agenda for itself. How do you find that?

The Common Minimum Programme is a common programme. But this time the government’s hands are not tied and I'm sure this new experiment will succeed. We'll prove that ours is indeed the government of the aam aadmi.