The Realpolitik games currently being played by leaders and parties for the nearly 50 Rajya Sabha seats which will be decided later this month would put the Game of Thrones in the shade. As nominations drew to a close yesterday, the big takeaway was that the Congress party has been snubbed by its ally, Lalu Yadav's RJD, and the old guard continues to call the shots.
Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi had a meltdown yesterday when asked about Jyotiraditya Scindia's sensational switch to the BJP (which got the 49-year-old a Rajya Sabha seat from Madhya Pradesh from his new party). RG as he is known was asked about the increasing disillusionment that has infected young leaders who are seen as part of his team.
Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress and joined the BJP on Wednesday in one of the most high-profile crossovers in recent times (File photo)
Gandhi made two points which seemed contrary to reality: that he is no longer Congress president and therefore has nothing to do with the decision on the Rajya Sabha slots; also, it does not matter who is on his team and is overlooked or given attention because he's more interested in briefing the youth of the country on the economy.
Yet, KC Venugopal, a current RG favourite got the nomination for one of the Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan and KTS Tulsi, who is the lawyer for RG's brother-in-law Robert Vadra, also gets to take a shot from Chhattisgarh. Tulsi was earlier part of the distinguished government-nominated quota of the Rajya Sabha.
The Congress has declared 12 candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, including party general secretary KC Venugopal
BS Hooda, senior Congress leader in Haryana, tested the limit of the Gandhi family authority by insisting that his son Deepender Hooda be given the Rajya Sabha nomination. Hooda Sr flat out refused to give the opening to long-standing rivals Kumari Selja, who is the Haryana Congress chief, or Randeep Singh Surjewala, head of the party's communications cell. Fearing a repeat of of the 2016 fiasco when the official Congress nominee RK Anand lost when Hooda's MLAs' votes were mysteriously found invalid, the beleaguered Gandhi family gave in. Presumably, their acquiescence was also based on wanting to avoid a repeat of the Scindia revolt in Haryana.
Digvijaya Singh, the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, who along with Kamal Nath, the current Chief Minister of the state, has been granted a renewal for his Rajya Sabha seat. The two veterans are seen as having edged Scindia out of any authority in his home state, motivating him to look for a new party. Singh filed his nomination yesterday and rushed back to Bhopal where he is trying to save the Kamal Nath government from collapse on account of nearly 20 MLAs resigning in support of Scindia. "So Singh is rewarded for putting the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh in jeopardy," a young Congress leader griped.
Senior leader of the Congress, Digvijay Singh with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath
The nominations for the Upper House reflect the power balance in the Congress. A restive Sachin Pilot, who, as Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan shares a dysfunctional relationship with his boss, Ashok Gehlot, sought a meeting with Sonia Gandhi to warn her against Gehlot's attempt to send a jeweler from Jaipur to the Rajya Sabha.
The meeting was held just before Scindia switched. The jeweler was dropped. But it was half a victory for Pilot as Neeraj Dangi, a Gehlot acolyte and state Congress General Secretary, made the cut. Pilot is angry at being overlooked repeatedly and is likely to soon up the ante against Gehlot.
Since Mr Scindia's exit, all eyes have been on Sachin Pilot whose relation with his boss - Ashok Gehlot - has been frosty for months
The only "Young (relative) Turk" who features on the Congress shortlist is Rajeev Satav, formerly chief of the Youth Congress and now in charge of Gujarat. In the race were Mukul Wasnik and Rajeev Shukla, considered close to Priyanka Gandhi. Shukla promptly took to Twitter to announce that he had been offered the seat by Sonia Gandhi, yet he had sacrificed it for "organisational work". The hint and the public sulk created much heartburn in the congress.
The RJD, with which the Congress has an alliance in Bihar, a state which they will contest together in the forthcoming assembly elections, refused to concede Sonia Gandhi's request for a seat and nominated its own party members: Prem Chand Gupta, veteran trouble shooter for the Lalu Prasad Yadav family, who has had multiple terms, and Amrendra Dhari Singh an entrepreneur from Bihar.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, said Congress leaders, refused offers from multiple state units to represent them in the Rajya Sabha, saying she would focus full-time on UP politics and reviving the party in the state that holds as many as 80 parliamentary seats.
The Congress has been headed by a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family for much of its 135-year history
So, the Rajya Sabha big fight discloses in full public view that even the Gandhi family's authority to broker peace between their party's warring factions is melting away. And, savvy senior leaders are elbowing aside the younger lot as they are in no mood to make concessions or share the perks of power.
The Young vs Old divide is nearly tearing the party apart. And Scindia's departure has opened the floodgates. The Rajya Sabha list appears to have satisfied no one.
Rahul Gandhi is still sulking, keen on signaling the message of "after me, the deluge". This time around, president Sonia Gandhi is not able to end the 24/7 inter-generational battle. Currently, the party has no message and no messenger.
(Swati Chaturvedi is an author and a journalist who has worked with The Indian Express, The Statesman and The Hindustan Times.)
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