Priyanka’s term would probably come post 2029. That is if Rahul Gandhi fails even in his 4th attempt to become the prime minister

The worst fear of Sonia Gandhi seems to be coming true. A contentious statement by a Congress party leader from Uttar Pradesh has virtually put the cat among the pigeons and created flutters in the party circles. Imran Masood, the Congress MP from Saharanpur, stated that Priyanka Gandhi would make a better prime minister in handling the Bangladesh situation. He compared Priyanka to her grandmother, Indira Gandhi, and her handling of the situation, which led to the creation of Bangladesh as a sovereign country in 1971.

There is an undeclared race among fringe Congress leaders to demonstrate their loyalties to the Gandhi siblings and secure their own futures by getting into their good books. The Congress party, anyway, is known for accepting sycophancy as a tool to promote one’s prospects. Masood is no exception. What he said can be attributed to his overenthusiasm. However, the BJP was quick to lap it up and suggest that it showed a lack of faith by a party lawmaker in the leadership quality of Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi remains the incumbent Leader of Opposition and an eternal prime minister in waiting. The Congress party did not react to it officially. But Masood was chided by senior leaders for making this statement. This forced him to backtrack and publicly acknowledge Rahul Gandhi as his leader.

The matter may have been settled for now. He definitely would not attract any punitive action. But the issue remains open for further debate, both internally in the party and in the public, especially concerning Rahul Gandhi’s leadership ability and calibre. That he has failed to impress the voters is no secret. There is no parallel of a leader rejected thrice by the electorate still being projected as a future prime minister. There is no denying the cruel fact that the Congress party is taking a big risk by backing Rahul Gandhi to stand up to someone like Narendra Modi. Modi is yet to taste a public rejection since he first became the Gujarat chief minister nearly a quarter of a century ago. While the BJP’s graph has surged since Modi moved to national politics ahead of the 2014 general elections, the Congress party’s graph has gone down consistently. The party has failed to cross the century mark in the Lok Sabha since Rahul Gandhi was first pitted against Modi as its prime ministerial face. The fact remains that the Congress would have moved ahead and beyond him if Rahul’s second name were not Gandhi. Ironically, the Gandhis are both assets and liabilities of the Congress party. He is still supposed to be learning on the job, even over two decades after he first became an MP in 2004.

Probably no one knew it better than Sonia Gandhi that Rahul Gandhi is stubborn and a slow learner. On the contrary, many saw shadows of Indira Gandhi in Priyanka. Though she might have failed to live up to that expectation due to her over-reliance on her elder sibling’s team of advisors and speechwriters, whenever she goes beyond the script, she does impress as a fierce speaker who makes much more sense than Rahul Gandhi, who often adds drama without substance.

It was common knowledge that Priyanka was being held back from entering active politics. Sonia Gandhi feared that Priyanka would overtake and outweigh Rahul Gandhi. Sonia fobbed off all questions regarding Priyanka by saying that looking after her small kids was her priority. However, it was no secret that as a doting mother, Sonia wanted her son Rahul to become the fourth prime minister from the Nehru-Gandhi family and not Priyanka. Later on, different roles were decided for the Gandhi siblings. The original plan was that Priyanka would serve the party as its president and Rahul would head the government as prime minister. What Sonia and her coterie did not fathom was a third term for Modi as PM. This led to Rahul’s prolonged wait to adorn the chair that he and many others in the Congress still feel belonged to him as a birthright.

The stage finally came when there was no choice but to let Priyanka enter Parliament. The Gandhis tactically decided to run the party through remote control. They did not want to get blamed for the repeated defeats of the party in national and state elections. This led to Mallikarjun Kharge becoming the party chief. Now the two siblings are members of the same House in Parliament by default, as the original plan and script went haywire.

Priyanka, on her part, has tried her best to match Rahul’s low levels so that she does not override him. But at times, the sparks in her get visible whenever she discards the script. This gives ample opportunities to persons like Imran Masood to draw their conclusions as to which of the two Gandhis is better suited to be the prime minister.

Priyanka’s term would probably come post-2029. This is if Rahul Gandhi fails even in his fourth attempt to become the prime minister. The Congress party is not expected to look beyond a Gandhi to lead it. And who better than Priyanka to succeed Rahul?