Mallikarjun Kharge is the President of Congress. Kishor, however, said that for all practical purposes, Gandhi is running his party and has been unable to either step aside or let somebody else steer the Congress despite his inability to deliver in the last 10 years.
Rahul Gandhi should consider stepping back if the Congress does not get the desired results in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, political strategist Prashant Kishor suggested on Sunday. Mallikarjun Kharge is the President of Congress. Kishor, however, said that for all practical purposes, Gandhi is running his party and has been unable to either step aside or let somebody else steer the Congress despite his inability to deliver in the last 10 years
This according to me is also anti-democratic,” said Kishor while speaking to news agency PTI. “When you are doing the same work for the last 10 years without any success, then there is no harm in taking a break… You should allow someone else to do it for five years. Your mother did it,” he said, recalling Sonia Gandhi’s decision to keep away from politics following her husband Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination and let P V Narasimha Rao take charge in 1991.
A key attribute of good leaders the world over is that they know what they lack and actively look to fill those gaps, the poll strategist said. “But it seems to Rahul Gandhi that he knows everything. Nobody can help you if you do not recognise the need for help. He believes he needs someone who can execute what he thinks is right. It is not possible,” Kishor said.
Prashant Kishor had prepared a revival plan for the Congress party and was set to join it but that did not materialise due to the disagreements between him and its leadership over the execution of his strategy.
Effectively, the Congress has contested two general elections under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. In 2014, the grand old party was reduced to its lowest-ever tally of 44, and in 2019, the number went slightly up to 52. Following the drubbing in 2019, Gandhi stepped down as Congress President.
Citing Gandhi’s decision to resign as the Congress President, Kishor said Gandhi had then written that he would step back and let somebody else do the job. But, in effect, he has been doing contrary to what he had written, he added. Many Congress leaders will admit privately that they cannot take any decision in the party, even about a single seat or seat sharing with alliance partners “unless they get the approval from xyz,” he said, referring to their need to defer to Rahul Gandhi.
However, a section of Congress leaders also privately say the situation is, in fact, the opposite, and Rahul Gandhi does not make decisions, that they wish he would. Kishore said the Congress and its supporters are bigger than any individual and Gandhi should not be stubborn that it must be he who will deliver for the party despite repeated failures.
The strategist also rejected the Congress president’s contention that his party has been facing poll setbacks because of institutions like the Election Commission, judiciary, and the media. He said this may be partly true but is not the complete truth. The Congress, he noted, was reduced from 206 seats to 44 in the 2014 polls when it was in power and the BJP had little influence over various institutions.
Kishor said the Congress party suffers from “structural” flaws in its functioning and addressing them is essential for its success. The Congress has been in a secular decline since 1984 in terms of its vote share and Lok Sabha and assembly seats and this is not about individuals, he said.
