Suddenly everybody is an advisor to newly elected Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, advising him on how to go about running the 137-year-old party, which, if it had a life of its own, will know the constant that nothing changes in the Congress till the Gandhi family wants it changed. Kharge knows this and the vanquished Shashi Tharoor knows this, too. Shashi Tharoor after speaking “blunt” for days leading up to Election Day lost more than just the election, his mojo, too. The progressive lot, which rooted for him are now coming up with a different slant of headlines: “Why Tharoor matters even in defeat?”, and “He’s what the Congress needed”. Life has come full circle for Shashi Tharoor. But the vibes aren’t comfortable. While efforts are ostensibly being made to not make him feel disjointed in defeat, there is also talk that Shashi Tharoor would be shown his “place”. The fact that as many as 1,072 delegates voted for the Thiruvananthapuram Member of Parliament has left the “high command” shaken.
Tharoor got 11.42% of the total votes cast and these are men and women who did not want Kharge as “President”, and are not likely to accept or endorse him as “President”. Also, their votes went to Tharoor after Rahul Gandhi himself staked his reputation on it and made it clear, even as the counting of votes was on, that “Khargeji will decide my position in Congress”. Kharge was the Gandhi family’s choice. The decision was already made. Everything that transpired thereafter was a show put up to game the system by the script written for the family, of the family, by the family. Inner-party democracy in action! If so, it was nicely done. Now, nobody can scapegoat anybody, much less any member of the Gandhi family. Rahul Gandhi’s statement on election day when counting was still on that “Khargeji will decide what position I’ll hold…” told the story that the high command was in total control. But Tharoor went a bit too far with his quips, including “not everybody gets a level-playing field”. They will now return to bite him. Shashi Tharoor will be naïve if he expects a “position” in the party structure anytime soon.
On the other hand, Shashi Tharoor will have to wait for the “high command” to take a call. Just like Rahul Gandhi said “Khargeji will decide on my position”, Tharoor’s position in the revamped Congress will have to wait for the Gandhis to make a decision. Mallikarjun Kharge would continue to eat out of the Gandhi family’s hand and wouldn’t make his own decision on whether there’s a place for the radically different Tharoor in the new scheme of things. Now, Tharoor has to be Kharge’s Laxman and this is uncharted nature for Tharoor. Also, there’s this feeling that Tharoor will have to restart all over again! Congress should not allow the opportunity to slip. Above all, it shouldn’t allow itself to be wracked by differences because the “high command” could not keep itself to itself, and fractious factions have taken hold. The one refrain heard ad verbatim is how can there be “Bharat Jodo” when Congressmen are doing their best to “Congress Todo”? That should be a thing of the past as the Kharge-led Congress prepares to fight the BJP in the coming elections.
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