With Sonia Gandhi at the helm of affairs Cong is back to square one
With the Congressmen showing their faith in one of the longest serving Presidents of the Congress party one more time, the road ahead for Sonia Gandhi perhaps will be more challenging than what it was when she took over as the president of the Cong party way back on 13th March 1998.
When Sonia took the reins of the party in 1998, Congress had its government in 4 states, but under her tenure party formed its government in a dozen state, and a coalition government at the center in 2004. However, in 2014, Congress had only 52 MPs and a flux of leaders jumping the ship was another headache for it. Many in Congress believe that her return as the party president will plug the leakage.
A faction ridden congress party will be Sonia's second challenge, especially in poll bound states where leaders have washed their dirty linens in public many a times. States like Haryana where the PCC chief and the former chief minister Bhupender Singh Hooda are at loggerheads with each other, Dr Ajoy Kumar quitting as the PCC chief in Jharkhand holding his colleagues responsible for not letting him work. Before thinking about reviving Party's electoral fortune Sonia Gandhi will have to put Congress' own house into order.
Another major challenge will come in choosing her team as after Priyanka's arrival in the party there apparently are more than two power centers within Congress' organisation. Sonia will have to tread her way very cautiously as most often the 2019 Lok Sabha debacle had been attributed to coterie of nonpolitical leaders advising Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi on crucial political issues.
Sonia Gandhi's return in the AICC HQ certainly has energised the Congress worker and has also given it's political opponent an opportunity to attack Congress for being myopic and not being able to see beyond the Gandhi's but her second tenure as the President will be no less than a throne of thorn.
