After announcing his decision to quit at the Congress Working Committee soon after the election results, Rahul apparently made him unavailable to all but his hand-picked aides.
After a tense hiatus of 24 hours when nobody was allowed to meet him, Ahmed Patel, and a day later, Priyanka Vadra, Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot met him, as per media reports. His visitors denied they discussed his resignation but it was clear they did nothing else.
Of course, Sonia Gandhi is deadly against her son quitting the party post. She cannot countenance someone else from outside the family taking over the reins of what she believes is a family enterprise. If Rahul's insists on resigning, a Manmohan Singh-like figure may be found to head the party till Rahul is ready again to assume charge of the party.
Again, if Rahul quits owning up responsibility for the huge blow to the party in the recent election, what justification will heads of various Pradesh Congress Committees have to continue after their humiliating defeat?
Indeed, the uncertainty over Rahul's status has caused confusion over the leadership of the Congress MPs in the Lok Sabha. With the defeat of Mallikarjun Kharge, the party has to search for a new leader. Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party but did not head its Lok Sabha component.
Shashi Tharoor has expressed a desire to replace Kharge, but his being an accused in the ‘suicide' of his wife, Sunanda Pushkar, and earlier his involvement in the IPL ‘sweat equity' scandal, should normally disqualify him from leading the party in the Lok Sabha.
Jyotiraditya Scindia could have been considered but he failed to retain his seat. In short, there is a crisis of leadership both at the organisational and parliamentary levels in the Grand Old Party. Unless resolved soon, it can have an adverse effect on the Congress ministries in the States.
