Congress' 2014 strategy: Not letting polls become a Rahul vs Modi battle

Needless to say, BJP doesn’t worry Congress more than their own party as the race to the 2014 general elections heats up in India. The best poll tactic for their party, therefore, would be to achieve a neat cover-up job. All this, if BJP’s wild gamble doesn’t pay off and the Narendra Modi wildfire is effectively contained by the Congress. And in the present political atmosphere, the best way to do it would be by not taking too many hasty strides, and possibly try branding BJP’s hurried roll forward as one marked with desperation. The BJP, on its part, has given their poll campaign the only, albeit risky push, it could afford. Following a high octane political drama, party President Rajnath Singh bulldozed party veteran LK Advani and announced Narendra Modi as their prime ministerial candidate. Given that Modi has led the party from the front, it was a fair decision too. The Congress’ best counter-offensive till now has been a dismissal of Modi’s allegations. Alongside, countering Modi’s attack as some form of impassivity, the Congress’ other new technique seems to be making Modi out to be a power-hungry, self-serving politician. Unfortunately, the Gujarat CM’s own party has given the Congress enough ground to build such an attack. [caption id=“attachment_1114239” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rahul Gandhi. Reuters.[/caption] In its line of defence, possibly upgraded following Modi’s promotion, the Congress will be trying to project BJP as a party with little or no unity, steered by a man who is driven by his own political ambitions. So, even after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath went on record to say that Rahul Gandhi is their ideal PM candidate, the Congress has cried itself hoarse over the past few days to establish that they are in no hurry to declare a PM candidate. The explanation that follows is usually meant to take a dig at the BJP - ‘we are fighting with a united party front’, ‘we are not fighting a Presidential election’ etc. From Digvijaya Singh to minister RPN Singh, the Congress entourage has gone all out to assert that declaring a ‘PM candidate’ is not necessary at the moment and that Rahul Gandhi is ’leading’ the Congress from the front, but doesn’t crave being called the PM candidate. The latest to join that chorus is minister for corporate affairs Sachin Pilot. In an exclusive interview to the DNA, Pilot says that Rahul Gandhi is perfectly placed to lead the party in the polls and he doesn’t need a gimmicky endorsement of being the PM candidate. He also adds that unlike Narendra Modi, Gandhi is not remotely power-hungry. He tells DNA:

It is only BJP leaders, including Mr Modi, who are desperate to be in a position of power and will do everything to grab it. Our vice-president (Gandhi) doesn’t need projection like Modi does.

Some in the party have also tried to rationalise the move of not naming a PM candidate, by citing the party’s poll traditions. In an interview to The Economic Times, a Congress leader who didn’t wish to be named said:

“Our stand remains the same – that we have never projected any candidate for the post of Prime Minister. This wasn’t done in 2004. In 2009, Manmohan Singh was projected only on the day of manifesto release as late as March. So we still have time. But at the same time, we are not ruling out the possibility,” a senior Congress general secretary said.”

However, the fact remains that the Congress will only be shooting itself in the foot if it lets the election race turn into a one-on-one contest. The Congress, as a party, might have to try to debunk Modi’s claims of development like they have in the past. The party has repeatedly accused Modi of failing to look beyond Gujarat and being too full of his Gujarat success story. As a party, which has been in power for two consecutive terms after having showed NDA the door, the Congress can also question Modi and BJP’s efficiency in running a country. If the poll battle becomes a Modi-Rahul face-off or a Modi-Congress PM hopeful face-off, it’ll be political suicide for the Congress. Because whatever his contribution to the party is worth, Rahul Gandhi has no concrete achievements to show that he can take a fair claim on. There is no evidence that Gandhi junior takes active part in policy-making and policy-implementation. Even in the Lok Sabha, while Sonia Gandhi pushed the Food Security Bill with a hasty speech, Rahul Gandhi was seen and heard nowhere. Even outside the House, Rahul’s promotion of the Food Bill has been mostly peppered with metaphors that don’t fall back on facts for support. His speeches sound more like college union election addresses than something meant to influence the most important polls in the country. Finally, Rahul can’t claim to have run anything with any success. Clearly, therefore, Rahul Gandhi will only be doing the Congress a favour by not declaring himself its PM candidate.