Kerala CM Delay Reveals Rahul Gandhi Has Not Learnt From Past Mistakes
· Free Press Journal
The Congress party’s unusually long delay in naming its new chief minister for Kerala was simply baffling. The speed the Congress leadership showed in dumping their long-time ally DMK and siding with the TVK in Tamil Nadu was nowhere visible in the case of Kerala.
Notwithstanding who is ultimately sworn in as the new Kerala chief minister, questions are bound to be asked about what led to this strange delay. This happened even when all newly elected party lawmakers had authorised the party high command to name their legislative party leader. This episode bore the signature brand of Rahul Gandhi’s style of politics.
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Congress delays have hurt party in the past
Cut back to the year 2017. The Congress party had emerged as the single largest party in the hung assemblies elected in Goa and Manipur. In Goa, it won 17 of the 40 seats and was short of the majority by four seats. In Manipur, it emerged victorious on 28 of the 60 seats and was short of the majority by three seats. The BJP had won 13 seats in Goa and 21 seats in Manipur. Yet, it was the BJP that formed the governments in these two states.
The regional parties in both Goa and Manipur were ready to hand over their letters of support to the Congress. However, the party leadership took its own time in deciding who should be its new chief ministers in these states. By the time it did, the BJP had already stolen the mandate and formed governments in both these states with the help of the parties that were initially willing to support the Congress.
Incidentally, Rahul Gandhi was then the official vice president of the Congress party. He was known for taking all decisions on behalf of his mother, Sonia Gandhi, who was the party chief. He displayed his inability to make quick decisions, and it cost the party the opportunity to form governments.
Internal contradictions weakened Congress governments
Next year, in 2018, the Congress party emerged victorious in three BJP-ruled states, namely Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Once again, the action shifted to New Delhi as the party high command was supposed to name its new chief ministers.
Rahul Gandhi, by then, had officially become the Congress president. He had informally promised chief ministership to Jyotiraditya Scindia in Madhya Pradesh and Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan. But he could not fulfil those promises under pressure from the old guard and his inability to overrule them.
Rahul Gandhi succumbed to the pressure of the old guard, who had worked as a coterie around Sonia Gandhi for years. He named the over-the-hill leaders Kamal Nath and Ashok Gehlot in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, respectively. In the case of Chhattisgarh, TS Singh Deo was one of the frontrunners to become the chief minister. Rahul Gandhi had not promised him chief ministership but did not know how to overlook his claim while naming Bhupesh Baghel as the chief minister.
Rahul Gandhi took the unusual decision of splitting terms, under which Scindia, Pilot and Singh Deo were promised chief ministership in the last two-and-a-half years. The chief minister-on-rotation model had been used unsuccessfully in some states in the past when forming coalition governments. But it was the first time this formula was applied when a party had the requisite numbers in the state assemblies on its own.
Rotation formula backfired for Congress
It was childish to think that leaders like Kamal Nath, Gehlot or Baghel would voluntarily step down from the chief minister’s post. Instead, from day one, they started working to undermine their successors.
Not surprisingly, the Congress party got embroiled in internal strife in all these states. The Kamal Nath government fell after Scindia rebelled and joined the BJP along with his supporters. In the 2023 elections, the Congress party lost badly in all three states.
The leaders who had credited Rahul Gandhi’s visionary leadership for the victories in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan lacked the guts to point fingers at him. His indecisive brand of politics meant the party became weaker and was voted out.
It was no different in Karnataka when the Congress party emerged victorious by defeating the BJP in 2023. There were two strong contenders for the chief minister’s post. Once again, Rahul Gandhi tried to mollify one of them by promising DK Shivakumar chief ministership after two-and-a-half years under the rotation policy.
Kerala presents a fresh leadership challenge
The problem in the case of Kerala is that there are not two but three contenders for the chief minister’s post. So Rahul’s rotation promise would not work here, and it complicated the situation.
The party lost three states where rotation did not take place at all. The Congress government in Karnataka is living on the edge. It appears the seeds of defeat for the Congress-led UDF in Kerala have been sown even before its government is formed.
In 2017 and 2018, Rahul Gandhi was supposed to be inexperienced. But in 2026, when he is 55 years old and has been an MP for the past 22 years, the situation is different. The less said the better about his brand of politics, which is full of indecision and is not taking the party anywhere.
Ajay Jha is a senior journalist, author and political commentator.