Congress in dilemma

In Punjab, the long meeting between Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday also failed to yield any result. Although efforts are on to resolve the dispute, but the reality is that the Congress in Punjab has got entangled in its own quirk in such a way that it is not getting out of it. After the way the state party president Sidhu reacted to the decisions of the new Chief Minister Channi, it is difficult to understand how the two will walk in harmony and not consider it a compromise on principles. On the other hand, Captain Amarinder Singh made it clear that he was not joining the BJP, but at the same time expressed his intention to leave the party. Efforts are on to persuade them, but it is not decided on which side the camel will eventually sit. In a state where elections are due to be held after five months, such uncertainty within the ruling party would amount to a blatant failure of the party leadership. However, the Congress leadership, which has been accused of not doing anything for a long time, had given a positive message by taking some concrete decisions in the past.

Appointment of Sidhu as state Congress president despite opposition from Captain Amarinder Singh in Punjab, giving first Dalit CM to a state with a sizeable Dalit population and admitting youth leaders with mass appeal in the form of Kanhaiya Kumar, Jignesh Mevani are decisions whose Much can be said in the pros and cons, but there is no doubt that these are sound decisions taken with special thought. But decisions taken with special thinking also get the benefit only when they are implemented with full preparation and appropriately. At least in the case of Punjab, it was so lacking that the side effects of these decisions started coming out in the negative form only after the announcement. It is difficult even for his supporters to defend the manner in which Sidhu has behaved during the last two months.

Obviously, the question will arise as to which method was adopted by the party high command to test his ability before handing over the responsibility of leading the party in the state. Behind what senior leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal have said, one can feel the uneasiness emanating from these questions. To ignore this restlessness or try to classify it as anti-party activities would be suicidal. The country’s largest opposition party cannot deprive itself of a full-time, responsible and transparent leadership. The challenges in front of the party will continue to be of different types, decisions will also continue to be some right and some wrong, but the situation of leadershiplessness at the highest level will not leave the party anywhere.