Cong's big headache: Kejriwal gets to be CM and leader of oppn

The Congress has possibly never faced a worse predicament. The party that has repeatedly humbling its rivals in games of brinkmanship over the past six decades suddenly appears a confused lot, that too when pitted against the Aam Admi Party, a political upstart. The party first showed an undue hurry in extending “unconditional” support to the Aam Admi Party, handing over a letter to that effect to the Lt Governor of Delhi, following that up by committing, again in writing, to Arvind Kejriwal that it agreed in letter and spirit with 18 stern demands posed by him to Sonia Gandhi. Then, even before the government they promised to support assumes office, they have started worrying about their fate. [caption id=“attachment_1306391” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Arvind Kejriwal. AFP[/caption] The question is, did the Congress leadership not know of the sentiments in the party lower down the order when they shot off two letters of support for AAP? Or is it that the dissenting voices and the official admission that Congressmen are divided over the issue are strategically choreographed? Or perhaps, by talking about a contrarian perspective within the party, it is now trying to find some respectability amid a rather humiliating situation. After all, it is not everyday that Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi speaks on record. He speaks only when it becomes a top priority issue. He speaks with clearance from the top. He weighs every word in the most miserly way. It was therefore construed to be very interesting, even intriguing, when Dwivedi came out to speak at length on the party’s support to Kejriwal:“There is also an opinion that perhaps the decision to support AAP in this manner was not correct. Some people feel this. Their argument is that Delhi voters have not given their support to Congress to the extent that the party could win only eight seats and it has not even got the post of leader of the opposition. Perhaps, it would have been appropriate that we would have left it to others to form government whoever wanted it. The Congress government in Delhi in last 15 years changed the face of the city. Despite this voters did not accept us … It was not our duty … whether somebody forms the government or not.” Actually, the problem for the Congress is that it has walked into the trap it had laid for AAP. It began with Kejriwal calling the Congress’s bluff and deciding to form the government. Without even toning down AAP’s venomous rhetoric against Congress. The Congress ploy for some moral grandstanding, offering to provide unconditional support to a young rival after Rahul Gandhi’s public pronouncement that his party needed to learn a lot from the nascent AAP, badly boomeranged. Kejriwal’s tactic to go for a referendum, even if it was self-seeking, enhanced his public standing. Kejriwal’s strength lay in the simple wisdom that he wins both ways – if Congress continues to offer support he could function like leader of the party which had absolute majority and where he could take decisions without caring for presence of other parties in the Assembly, and secondly, if the Congress pulls the rug then he would go out as a martyr claiming he was always so right about the Congress’s treachery and corruption.  The Congress too knows the follies of any misadventure at this stage, at least till parliamentary elections are over. So a stalwart Dwivedi was forced to add that since the support has already been given it has to continue like that. Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel too reiterated support to AAP. Off record, senior Congress leaders are now blaming Sheila Dikshit for first voicing an unconditional support to AAP. Other party leaders followed suit in in-house deliberations thinking that was Rahul Gandhi’s line because he had spoken highly of AAP. This also fitted perfectly in Congress’s approach to do anything that might put roadblocks Modi’s onward march. Kejriwal came as a force that could act as spoiler in some areas to rising prospects of BJP. It had also hoped to get certain quid-pro-quo respectability from AAP, if nothing else. But since then Congress’s script has gone awry and even their leader Rahul Gandhi’s wisdom is being questioned by leaders and workers lower down the order in the party. There is also a great deal of resentment over initial use of work “unconditional”. They have now been trying hard to attach conditionality to their support. There is strong a view that the party should have called it “unilateral” than unconditional. The term unilateral stated a factual position and could have been construed to be guided by some strategy. “Instead, initial usage of the word unconditional was taken as subjugation to AAP, which is not the case.” Kejriwal and his team treated that as “subjugation” and by the time the Congress think tank realised the inherent follies it was too late in the day. Since a letter of support for Kejriwal had already been given to the Lt Governor, the support could be countermanded only by another letter announcing withdrawal of support, with or without citing reasons. Incidentally, AAP leaders are thoroughly enjoying the Congress’s discomfort. The AAP quietly tamed the possibility of an in-house Vinod Kumar Binny revolt through some quiet late-night diplomacy. By constantly talking of Congress and the BJP in negative terms even as he is about to assume office of Chief Minister, Kejriwal is trying to achieve an impossible feat – be the de-jure Chief Minister and be the de-facto Leader of Opposition. That’s an excellent strategy for now. How long it works that way is anybody’s guess.