As the Congress party is losing ground in the parliament and there is no chance of an immediate recovery at the National level politics, the President of the party has no other option but to induct two senior leaders in the Rajya Sabha for the balancing act. Chidambaram did not fight out the last Lok Sabha election and there is no other way but to include him through the backdoor and that is by nominating him for the Rajya Sabha. In Tamil Nadu, the Congress party performed badly and there was no role of Chidambaram to revive the party’s position in that state. Kapil Sibal has been raising his voice vociferously in recent times and he needs to be given a post to air more of his voice in the floor of the house to bring some respect at the national level. It was indeed a desperate attempt by Sonia to seek the support of the duo in strengthening the party cadre. Instead of doing so, she ought to have made them work for the party from the lower level as Indira Gandhi did in case of Kamaraj. Sonia is taking a retrograde step and it will not have much impact as BJP led NDA is going to get the much needed support through the support of other like-minded parties. In all, Sonia’s move is not a wise one at this juncture.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
