The pre-election Congress scenario
When the UPA II came to power for a second consecutive term with Manmohan Singh as the PM a lot changed. With the economy doing a turn the subsidy laden Congress reform schemes went blank.
There were few strong government policy plans that could swivel India in the days surrounded by fiscal deficits, a series of erupting scams and the impending fight for survival by the UPA II due to lack of a strapping leader to consolidate its position.
The coal scam had even questioned the stand taken by the PMO. There were visible factions in the strategy that was to be adopted to gain an upper hand on the circumstances. The Congress party tried to make amends by launching a flurry of half-hearted and lackadaisical reforms on the economic front. Their inaction disillusioned the supporters who started looking for alternatives in the form of BJP or others. The assembly elections conducted in the states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh aptly proved the anti-Congress wave translating into anti-Congress votes.
The charismatic Rahul Gandhi the probably leader of the party failed to cast his spell on the masses. The family support base that had been erected so painstakingly by Nehru and Indira Gandhi is invariably on the decline.
Sonia Gandhi’s presidency has failed to touch base at the grass roots level in the different states of India through able regional leaders.
There has been virtually no influx of talented young blood one of the slogans raised dramatically raised by Rahul Gandhi. It has been clearly apparent to the Congress party that the Indian electorate is claiming good governance and transparency from the government. BJP has already been gradually expanding its political realm with its link up in various regions. The Congress even failed to take advantage of the Jyotiraditya Scindia or the anti-incumbency factor in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its redoubtable campaign led by state Prime Ministerial candidate chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. BJP is campaigning under the leadership of Narendra Modi.
The UPA II had never a smooth run as two of its biggest allies walked out leaving it to stagger. The connection to power lines to 5.6 lakh villages through India is as much a plus on its behalf as it is a negative as no power flows through the lines. Its accountability has suffered due to lack of communicate within and about. Confusion has been rampant within the Congress and the General Election 2014 will spell out its swing of fortune on as the Indian electorates cast their votes.
The Congress should clearly get the message of the masses to accept a party that would be in power which virtually makes no gains for itself given its unlimited capacity and inflict difficulties upon the ordinary man. The badly battered Congress party has to regain from the blows it has received from its rivals due to weak policies and bad strategies in order to organize its rungs before the General Election to be held in India in April-May 2014. It must therefore be on its guard as a big battle lies ahead for it in its arena of expertise in bygone years.
