Rahul's 'leave' pays off: All new state chiefs have the Congress VP's stamp

New Delhi: The ’leave’ tactic is paying off for Rahul Gandhi. After the Congress vice president went on a sabbatical making clear his unhappiness over not being allowed to have his way in the party, the high command has given in to some of his major demands. To begin with, all the new state presidents announced by the All India Congress Committee are Rahul’s choice.

According to the announcement, former Union minister Bharat Sinh Solanki takes over in Gujarat; Uttam Reddy will now head Telangana; Ajay Maken succeeds Arvinder Singh Lovely in Delhi; Ghulam Mir takes charge of Jammu & Kashmir, Sanjay Nirupam gets Mumbai while Ashok Chavan is the new boss of Maharashtra. The common thread between all these appointments is the Rahul signature all over them.

It is known that Rahul wanted a reshuffle in the organization way back in September/October but it has been on hold for the lack of consensus between senior leadership over key issues. Solanki took over from Arjun Modwadhia, who is known to be close to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel. Ajay Maken has been working closely with the Congress vice president since his elevation as chief of Congress’s media department.

It is believed that Rahul had sympathy for Ashok Chavan even after he had to step down as Maharashtra chief minister in the wake of Adarsh housing society scam in 2010. Chavan and former Indian Youth Congress president Rajeev Satav are the only two Congress members from Maharashtra in Lok Sabha. The former CM makes a much awaited comeback. Ghulam Mir was a near certainty after Saifuddin Soz wanted to hand over charge to someone else and Rahul wanted to steer clear of established faces.

But what has led to the continuing tussle is that Rahul and his so called relatively inexperienced team has not been able to inspire confidence among a section of the seniors. “Who says he (Rahul) hasn’t been given powers? His people decided everything during the Lok Sabha campaign and all we got was arrogance and 44 seats,” said a senior Congress leader. “If he wants to be a good president, he should learn from his mother and carry everyone together,” he confided.

Now it seems the seniors have agreed to his appointees as state unit chiefs. They will have to brace themselves to the pending organizational reshuffle where Rahul is unlikely to give any quarter to the old guard.

These appointments come after Rahul decided not to attend the crucial Budget session and take time out to ‘reflect’ on the current political scenario, a clear message to seniors to fall in line. The AICC session is scheduled for this April in Bengaluru and Rahul Gandhi’s team wants him to take over as Congress president then. But this move seems to have hit a wall with some senior leaders preferring him to take over after the process of holding internal elections is over within the party, and that is likely to extend till September.

“There are no two views within the party, it is very clear that everyone Congress worker wants Rahulji to lead the party,” said Akhilesh Pratap Singh, national spokesperson for the  Congress. While Sonia Gandhi is busy firefighting and trying to reach a consensus where both seniors and Rahul’s team can work together, these appointments come as the first confidence building measure between the two sides.