Sonia has sought the services of veterans and senior leaders who kept the grand old party in fine fettle in the past, to help her son understand the intricacies of politics
OUR BUREAU New Delhi
Shrugging off the Utta
r Pradesh poll shock, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is on a learning mode to grasp from veterans and senior leaders how the grand old party used to click with the people in the past.
Sonia Gandhi has asked her political secretary Ahmed Patel to identify these leaders, including those who may have withdrawn from active politics for any reason, and invite them state- wise to interact with Rahul.
This is seen as an informal way of Sonia slowly withdrawing from the organisational matters and quietly putting Rahul in command to get a grip of the party affairs before the mantle comes in his hands.
The exercise began immediately after he had a 2- day review to understand the causes of the Uttar Pradesh debacle.
The new process adopted by Rahul in this exercise indicates that he has stepped out of the confines of the Youth Congress and Uttar Pradesh and put behind the experiment of dependence on the professional agencies in political analysis and selection of candidates.
It is a shift to depend on the political inputs from the grassroots and remove the complaint from many seniors that Rahul and his team were not in sync with the parent organisation. He seems to have realised that ground realities in this diverse and vast country can be understood best from those wedded to the grassroots than banking on computers and his Yankee friends.
There should be no surprise if Rahul soon relinquishes the responsibility as in- charge of the frontal organisations and takes up the responsibility in the parent party as the current exercise of a closer engagement with leaders from all the states is seen as enhancing his own acceptability as the partys supreme leader after Sonia Gandhi.
Sources say Rahul has been meeting leaders from the states, seeking their guidance on how to activate the party organisation to become poll- ready and what are their views on the political issues in the states that need urgent attention.
Many had a surprise at getting the call from his office as they had not sought any appointment.
