CWC-CPP meets | Mounting pressure on Rahul to take up Lok Sabha LoP post

There were no surprises at the meetings of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), which met in Delhi through Saturday (June 8), to discuss the results of the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.

With its Lok Sabha tally of 99 seats, against the 44 and 52 seats it had won in the 2014 and 2019 polls, respectively, qualifying the Congress to nominate a Leader of Opposition in Parliament’s Lower House after a decade, the CWC passed a unanimous resolution imploring former party president Rahul Gandhi to assume the role.

'Rahul for LoP'

The ‘Rahul for LoP’ chorus also found an echo at the meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) that was held later in the day.

Rahul, who has won the Lok Sabha polls from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and Wayanad in Kerala, however, has not made his mind known to his party colleagues on the matter just yet.

Various CWC members and newly elected Congress MPs that The Federal spoke to said Rahul had “dropped no hint” on whether or not he would ultimately accept the onerous responsibility. The position would not just require him to lead the 234-member INDIA bloc’s charge in the Lok Sabha against the 293-member ruling NDA coalition on various issues, but also give him a direct stake in the selection process of various constitutional posts, including the chiefs of the CBI and the ED.

Briefing the media after the CWC meeting, Congress general secretary (organisation), KC Venugopal too said that Rahul, when asked to accept the LoP’s post, simply informed the CWC members that he would “convey his decision very soon”.

Call for quick decision

Sources said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has also told Rahul that he “cannot ignore a unanimous wish of all members of the extended CWC” and must “accept the responsibility to lead the Congress in the Lok Sabha” as he led the party during the election campaign and his two pan-India yatras.

A senior Congress MP told The Federal: "Eeveryone in the party is hopeful that Rahul will respect the wishes of Congress members and accept the LoP’s role.” The leader, however, added, "None of us really know his thoughts on the matter; maybe he will accept or maybe he will surprise everyone by suggesting some other name”.

Another party leader, who is known to enjoy a good personal rapport with Rahul, said: “We are hopeful he will take a positive view of the CWC resolution and accept it. We know Rahul is not the kind of person who gets lured by posts; even if he is not the LoP, he will still be our leader and the ideological anchor of our party... he could come up with some surprise pick in line with his campaign for giving Dalits, tribals and backward castes greater voice in democracy”.

Choosing between seats

With the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha likely to be convened around June 15, a CWC member told The Federal that the suspense over whether Rahul accepts the LoP’s post or not “could continue at least till then”. The CWC member added that Rahul’s “answer (on whether he accepts the post of LoP) may come along with his decision about which seat – Rae Bareli or Wayanad – he plans to represent in the Lok Sabha.

“He has to take a call on the seat before June 17... most of us think he will retain Rae Bareli because of the Nehru-Gandhi family’s century old association with it and also because it would send the right political message to UP and other Hindi-speaking states but let us see what he decides ultimately. His decision of LoP may also come at the same time and a decision on who replaces him as the bypoll candidate for whichever seat he gives up may also be taken simultaneously or shortly thereafter... for now, we all have to wait,” the CWC member said.

While Rahul kept everyone guessing on his next move, there were few other decisions taken by the party on Sunday which surprised none. Sonia Gandhi was, yet again, unanimously chosen by the party’s Rajya Sabha members and MPs-elect of the Lok Sabha, to assume charge as CPP chairperson. Kharge, party sources confirmed to The Federal, would continue to discharge his role as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

High praise for Kharge, Gandhis

The message from the CWC and the CPP too was on expected lines. Kharge, Sonia, Rahul and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi came in for high praise at both the meetings for their respective roles in the Lok Sabha campaign.

The party also reiterated that though Narendra Modi was returning as Prime Minister for a third consecutive term, the mandate of 240 seats for the BJP, a sharp fall of 63 seats from 2019, was “not just a political loss but a personal and moral defeat for the Prime Minister who sought the mandate in his name and ran a campaign anchored in lies, hate, prejudice, divisiveness and extreme bigotry”.

At the CPP meet too, Sonia was strident in her put down of the last decade of Modi’s rule and hopeful that the current Lok Sabha verdict would ensure that “no longer can and should Parliament be bulldozed like it has been for a decade now; no longer will the writ of the ruling establishment be permitted to disrupt Parliament, whimsically mistreat members or push through legislation without due and proper consideration and debate; no longer can and should Parliamentary Committees be ignored or bypassed like they have been since 2014; no longer will Parliament be muzzled and stifled as it has been over the past ten years.”

Caustic tenor

With an atypically caustic tenor, Sonia also excoriated Modi, telling her CPP colleagues that the Prime Minister-elect had “lost the mandate he sought and thereby lost the right to leadership as well; yet, far from taking responsibility for failure, he intends to get himself sworn-in again tomorrow.” The CPP chairperson added, “we do not expect him (Modi) to change the substance and style of his governance nor take cognizance of the will of the people”.

While it was evident that the Congress was still soaking in the euphoria of its partial electoral revival and, at least for now, determined to not let an electorally diminished Modi take comfort in the return of his ally-powered regime, there was also some plain speaking at the CWC meet.

Though without reprimanding any leader in particular, the party high command made it known that the taste of the Congress’s sweet recovery in some states had been soured by the near or complete washout it suffered in some states and the below-expectation performance in others where it had been led to believe by the leadership of the concerned states that an uptick in electoral fortunes was on the horizon.

Relook at states

The CWC noted the “disappointing performance” of the party in “some states in the midst of its overall revival and rejuvenation” and the resolution adopted at the meeting underscored that “urgent steps should and will be taken to address the shortcomings”.

Venugopal told the media that Kharge would soon be constituting committees that would visit the states where the Congress performed poorly or below expectations and “submit a report at the earliest” to apply the organisational correctives needed.

Sources said that a “reshuffle of the AICC and several state units over the next month or two cannot be ruled out”.

“The immediate priority will, of course, be the upcoming Parliament session and ensuring that the INDIA bloc puts up a united and determined front against the NDA but we also have assembly polls in Haryana and Maharashtra in four months for which we have to ensure that we build on the gains we have made in the Lok Sabha polls," a senior Congress general secretary told The Federal.

"Shortly after that, in quick succession, we will have assembly polls for Jharkhand and then Delhi; in Jharkhand we still have a lot of ground to cover in the non-tribal areas and in Delhi we need a completely new approach for rebuilding the party. There is a lot of organisational work to be done and the CWC has also noted this in its resolution. The Lok Sabha result has given the party a major boost but we have to start cashing in on it immediately or else we will start sliding back very soon,” the senior Congress general secretary added.