Lakshmana Venkat Kuchi, Senior Journalist
@kvlakshman
Once again, it will be a south Indian to be heading the Indian National Congress, the country’s oldest political party that is now struggling for its survival in the face of an aggressive political adversary who has almost banished it from the Hindi belt.
The Congress still has a relatively stronger presence in South India, as compared to the North, and has bright chances of coming to power in Karnataka where it is the principal opposition party and Kerala. It is also aligned with a powerful regional ally in Tamil Nadu that sends the largest contingent to Lok Sabha from this region.
Given this political ground reality, and the fact that in the north is that the Congress has a lot of ground to cover, a South Indian at the helm of affairs of the party appears like a sound idea, but questions do arise whether this decision would hurt the party in the Hindi belt.
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But even in the southern region the task of the new Congress president – whether it is Mallikarjun Kharge or Shashi Tharoor – is cut out, as regional forces have dethroned the party in three states — Tamil Nadu and two Telugu-speaking states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Firstly, the Congress leader must revive the party in the region where it has brighter chances as compared to the North.
South India sends 130 MPs to Lok Sabha, and the BJP is also making a concerted effort this time around to win as many seats as possible from this region. In the previous elections, the BJP swept Karnataka, winning all but three of the total 28 seats from the state. In Karnataka, even though the Congress appears to have a bright chance this time around, what with national level and state level anti-incumbency playing a part, it is hopelessly split into two factions, and this may help BJP eventually.
In the combined Andhra Pradesh, the Congress had already shot itself in the foot, when it bifurcated the state to Telangana, a decision that have become something akin to killing the hen that lay golden eggs.
It was Andhra Pradesh that sent the largest contingent of 30 plus MPs to Lok Sabha in 2004 and 2009, to help UPA nudge ahead and form the government.
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But after bifurcation, Congress drew a blank in both states, in Lok Sabha and got wiped out in assembly elections to regional political forces that got well entrenched now.
So, for the new Congress president, most likely Kharge, given the ground realities and the apparent hint that he is backed by the Congress high command, is to begin reviving the party from South India on the strength of the goodwill generated by the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Rahul Gandhi.
Incidentally it is a coincidence, that on a day that Rahul Gandhi’s yatra entered Karnataka, its veteran leader from the state, Kharge, filed his nomination papers for elections to the post of the President of the Indian National Congress.
A dalit leader with a clean image, a staunch Gandhi loyalist Kharge has been a vocal critic of the Modi government and has been advocating the unity of the opposition to oust the BJP government at the Centre.
His elevation as the party president could firstly give a boost to the Congress chances in the assembly elections, due next year. The Congress is expected to do well given that the BJP government is facing anti-incumbency and flack for being the most corrupt government that the state has seen.
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If Kharge gets elected to the post of the party president, he will be yet another leader from the South of the Vindhyas to hold fort of the country’s oldest political party. Others who led the party included Kamaraj, S Nijalingappa, Sanjeeva Reddy and PV Narasimha Rao.
Incidentally, at present, even the Youth Congress chief happens to be a south Indian from Karnataka – BV Srinivas.
Kharge, a law-graduate, has been elected to Karnataka assembly nine consecutive times and won two Lok Sabha elections in 2009 and 2014 from Kalaburagi constituency. Elected to Rajya Sabha in June 2020, Kharge is now the leader of opposition in the Upper House.
(Lakshmana Venkat Kuchi is a senior journalist tracking social, economic, and political issues and takes a keen interest in sports as well. He has worked with prominent news organisations.)
