Sonia’s Coterie vs Rahul’s Clique

Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s growing influence over Rahul Gandhi seems to have threatened the party’s old guard

Congress leader Digvijay Singh’s growing influence over Rahul Gandhi seems to have threatened the party’s old guard so much that they have once again started gravitating towards each other. And, if rumours are to be believed, Sonia’s feelers, too, have gone up.

In 2004, when the Congress came to power after a gap of almost a decade, leaders close to Sonia Gandhi, like Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Margaret Alva, started acting as the party’s main political managers. They soon fell apart, though, and with the exception of Ahmed Patel, Sonia’s political advisor, lost their influence over the Gandhi family too.

Now, with the emergence of a new centre of gravity around Rahul—a group including Prithviraj Chavan, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Jairam Ramesh—the old guard has once again closed ranks. After all, the alternative is complete marginalisation within the party.

The threat is real. And so is the unity pact of the old coterie. This seems to be already paying off. Ambika Soni, who had to give up charge of Rajasthan after the Gehlot government’s defeat in 2003, has got the state back after the Congress’ victory a few months back. Azad, who had been moved to Srinagar, is now in charge of another important state, Tamil Nadu. And Margaret Alva, who had been removed from all party posts following her allegations about the sale of party tickets, is now contesting the Uttar Kannada Lok Sabha seat on a Congress party ticket.

There is an interesting story doing the rounds. Many believe that the reason these old heavyweights find themselves back in favour at 10 Janpath is to keep the influence of the newly-emerging group around Rahul in check. 

CongressDigvijay SinghRahul GandhiSonia Gandhi