 | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | UNCERTAIN AT THE TOP: Manmohan and Sonia (front row) in Hyderabad | | The power of two and the desperation of the rest. That was the mammoth Congress show in Hyderabad, where the leader supreme and the leader reluctant loomed over the fawning legion of the party. If the ground was cracking beneath her firm feet, Sonia Gandhi on her part did not show any sign of panic-or unveil any contingency plan. Rahul Gandhi, despite the rising wail of come-to-the-vanguard, remained hesitant but, nevertheless, stole the show. A bit of soul-searching, a lot of posturing, some belated self-assertion, a few warnings to partners and plenty of idol worship completed the script. To the majority of the 12,000-odd delegates, though, the meticulously planned plenary session of the Congress was another grand occasion for wooing the heir apparent in the family: the demand for the inclusion of Rahul in the Congress Working Committee or his appointment as general secretary of the AICC was the highlight of the jamboree. To keep up the Congress tradition in sycophancy, they made Rahul an acronym for Reformist, Accomplished, Honest and Upcoming Leadership. Wait for the new line on the cardboard. At one stage even the mother and son looked quite embarrassed by the soaring sycophancy. | | |  Congressmen from Amethi and Rae Bareli had a perfect opportunity to relish their special status. Over 200 of them came without notice but were given choice accommodation, transport and food, besides a go on a sight-seeing tour of Hyderabad. Making sure that they got the royal treatment wherever they went, were local leaders or an AICC secretary in tow. | Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and APCC President K. Keshava Rao impressed the delegates, including Sonia Gandhi, with the arrangements. The plenary venue, GMC Balayogi Stadium renamed Rajiv Nagar for the occasion, and all roads leading to it were spruced up and well-lit. Asked whether all this cost Rs 20 crore, Reddy merely retorted, "Who told you so?"
| The portly grey eminence, Uttaranchal Chief Minister N.D. Tiwari, skipped the session. Complaining of being slighted as he is no longer in the CWC, a sulking Tiwari remained incommunicado in Dehradun.
| If it seems jarring that P.V. Rajeswara Rao, son of former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, opened a music recording theatre at the time of the plenary session, the former MP from the city dishes out a reason of his own: "With Hyderabad turning into a hub of creativity, this is the best time." Predictably, no Congressman was present. | | The AICC president could not have asked for more. However, Sonia avoided any mention of her son, unlike a long line of fawning speakers, who demanded that he be given greater responsibility. Rahul, in a short speech, admitted that he was still learning the ropes. After a massive build-up, he made a modest and cautious appearance on the stage to make the Hyderabad session yet another turning point in the role of the Nehru-Gandhi family in shaping the grand old party. Rahul may have been the most significant statement from Hyderabad, but Sonia did not miss the opportunity to declare that the party was not averse to returning to its imperious ways. Twenty months into its first national coalition Government, the Congress cautioned its partners against "crossing the limits of constructive criticism" in pursuit of "their own individual party lines". The irony is that she glossed over the Congress-JD(S) stand-off in Karnataka and the clamour for a separate Telangana state by another ally Telangana Rashtra Samithi. Instead, Sonia stressed the need for the Congress to brace itself and take on the communists both in West Bengal and Kerala in the coming assembly elections. She saw no contradiction in this "as national challenges demand that we cooperate with them but state issues are different and we will fight them as opponents". | | RAHUL GANDHI | | Hesitant Heir  No sooner had the plenary session begun then the Congress workers started chanting their demand to bring Rahul Gandhi on the stage, among the 107 high-ranking leaders seated on the dais. Mother Sonia turned away, while Manmohan Singh sat smiling and Rahul himself seemed embarrassed. As the demand rose to a crescendo, party General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi requested Rahul to come on stage. "I will speak tomorrow. Till then, please, allow me to sit there," he said, pointing to the chair among the delegates, amid rapturous cheers. Whenever anyone got a chance he shook hands with the "heir apparent". They listened to him in rapt attention the next day as he reminded them of the pivotal role the new generation is poised to play in the party. "While the Congress is the oldest party, it is also the youngest and has the largest number of young leaders with modern thinking," he said. "We need a torch-bearer, a leader to show us the right path. We need the second-generation leadership that can take forward the ideals of the age-old Congress," said Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, echoing the demand of other senior party leaders, including Union ministers Arjun Singh and Pranab Mukherjee, that Rahul take up bigger responsibilities in the party. It is increasingly evident that politics of inheritance has more takers now. -By Amarnath K. Menon | | Clearly, the AICC chief is concerned about the long haul even as the party leads the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). "The verdict of the 2004 Lok Sabha election showed that our people will reject divisiveness of any kind, social or economic, ... arrogance and insensitivity on the part of those who are in power," said Sonia. On gaining a foothold in states where the Congress is not in power, she said, "Our revival in the north is imperative but there is no magic wand to achieve this. This can happen only with our collective efforts. It will be a long and difficult struggle." The party is hardly a force in Uttar Pradesh, where elections are due next year, and Bihar. Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh too pose formidable challenge. They are also decisive battlefields in the next Lok Sabha election. "The leaders have to project and develop the party in such a manner that the benefits of these programmes and actions accrue to the party, not to a few individuals," she said. Still, apart from setting the tone and raising with gusto a silver mace and a bow and arrow gifted to her at the end of the three-day convention, she did not spell out a broad strategy that the Congressmen could take back to the states. | SPECTACULAR SHOW
The Hyderabad session will long be remembered not only for the chorus in favour of Rahul Gandhi but also the baffling logistics that made it the most comfortable plenary in many years at the drop of a Gandhi cap. | | | 2,42,000 sq ft shamiana cover
60,000 Multi-course meals
16,000 Policemen
12,000 Delegates
3,896 Hotel rooms
3,000 Cars
500 Buses
144 State ministers
138 MPs
72 Welcome arches
50 Surveillance cameras
50 Power transformers
46 Portable toilets
37 Sniffer dogs
36 Anti-sabotage teams
33 PCC presidents
29 Union ministers
17 Cut-outs of the AICC president
15 Chief ministers
6 Food courts
4 LED monitors
3 Helipads | | The Congress faces a gigantic task in building the rank and file again from the grassroots. The party was defeated in erstwhile strongholds because, as Rahul put it, "we have failed to represent the aspirations of the people". He said it was the internal failing of the party rather than the casteist or regional card played by rival parties. In a sober response to the raucous demand to take on bigger responsibility, he said, "Young Congresspersons were foot soldiers whose duty was working on the ground without hankering for posts and power." In what sounded like a self-assessment, he said, "Leaders cannot be created in one day, they have to be built brick by brick, day by day." | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | PUTTING ON THINKING CAPS: Posturing and soul-searching marked the show | | Not surprisingly, Rahul's speech drew gushing praise. "The humility with which he laid emphasis on reaching out to the grassroots-level worker is outstanding," said Sachin Pilot. Another young MP, Jyotiraditya Scindia, who had elderly admirers virtually touching his feet at a hotel lobby, said, "Given his charisma, ability, ideas and vision, every young person is eagerly waiting for Rahul to play a larger role in national politics." Given Sonia's style, the timing of the formal induction of Rahul will only be when the party's mood is on an upswing. Much to the leader's discomfort, the current atmosphere is vitiated by the Volcker Report, the row over the defreezing of Ottavio Quattrocchi's bank accounts in London and the crisis in Karnataka. The stand taken by the Congress in the political resolution is certain to be contested by its electoral allies. Except in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana and Punjab, wherever the party is in power, it is a coalition government. The Congress has been accused of needling the JD(S) and its President H.D. Deve Gowda in Karnataka, leading to the downfall of Dharam Singh. Yet, the political resolution sought to address the party's dilemma on the problems inflicted by its allies. While seeking to reassure disadvantaged groups, including the Muslim minority, it launched into BJP-bashing by pledging to expose divisive forces. | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | VENUE VIGIL: Foolproof security | | In the resolution on economic affairs, the Congress called upon the UPA Government to strive for 10 per cent growth even as the communists constantly carp on economic issues. To achieve that growth it wants a substantial increase in public investment in agriculture, strengthening of the navratna PSUs and creation of a common market. Unlike the political resolution that was strong on rhetoric against the communists, the Congress toed their line by saying that disinvestment should be undertaken selectively on a case-to-case basis to raise resources for the National Investment Fund. "We have begun well in spite of difficulties and unnecessary hurdles raised by our opponents," said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, hopeful of a long innings for the Congress to make a visible impact. He confined himself to issues of development and implementing programmes without making any reference to the party's strategy for reviving its electoral fortunes. Coming dangers: elections to West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu assemblies. There is a steady fall in the all-India vote share of the Congress since the all-time high of 1984-49.10 per cent when Rajiv steered the party to win 414 seats in the Lok Sabha-to 26.53 per cent and 145 seats in 2004. Yet, it is unclear how the party can regain the ground lost to new political formations. There is a leadership failure, for there are no structures of inner party democracy to encourage new faces, ideas and dialogue. The party can't think beyond 10 Janpath. The Congress is in the waiting mode, hoping that Rahul will one day lead it to the single-party rule. "The Congress has the potential because it is the only national party which has the appeal, ideological and emotional, for all sections of people. It represents the broadest spectrum," said Union Culture Minister Jaipal Reddy. At 120, the party may not be doddering, but with its every tentative step, the spectrum gets less broad.
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