Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is unlikely to be the face of the party in the general elections in 2019 with his mother and party president Sonia Gandhi expected to take control of the party again.
The upcoming elections in several states are expected to be fought under the leadership of old senior leaders of the party instead of Rahul's youth brigade, sources familiar with the matter told CNN-News18.
There have been several hints to indicate that there has been a strategic shift with the senior and veteran leaders of the Congress playing a more important role in the party affairs. Sonia was the one, and not Rahul, who had deliberately helped pick candidates and also brought the opposition together to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming presidential polls.
On Thursday, it was announced that the Communication Committee of the Congress would now be led by senior leaders like P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma and Ghulam Nabi Azad.
"What's clear is that it will have to be the entire opposition together to take on Modi. And Congress alone is no longer capable of doing it. A truncated Congress needs the charisma and clout of regional satraps. I am not sure Rahul can be the interface," a Congress functionary told CNN-News18.
Another senior Congress leader said: "The situation in 2004 was different. First, there was no Modi then, and Congress was still a force to reckon with. Unlike then, when Congress under Sonia called the shots, this time it is the regional allies who are dominant."
Rahul's trip abroad after visiting Mandsaur, which recently witnessed violent protests by farmers, received severe backlash from the allies of the Congress party. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar has previously stated that it won't be possible for him to do business with Rahul.
The Congress needs its regional allies for the general elections in 2019 and Sonia still has the influence or the power to bring them together. The party has been losing its influence in states like Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh where it had always had a strong presence. If the party fails to win the Karnataka Assembly elections, it will face a huge resource crunch before the 2019 elections, CNN-News18 reported.
"When Sonia picks up the phone and calls, say, a Mayawati or Mulayam, they would listen to her. It's her age and her charisma that works. Rahul still has a long way to go," another top source told the channel adding that it was the Congress president who spoke to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav requesting them to put an end to the fight and save the grand alliance.
The leader further added that when Sonia hosted a lunch recently, leaders like Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee and several members of the JD(U) attended it proving that she still has a strong influence over the leaders of the opposition parties.
