Power tussle in states: Why is Congress leadership shying away from hard decisions | India News
NEW DELHI: 2026 may see the Congress win another state. If the local body election results in Kerala are an indication to go by, the state may turn to Congress-led UDF after 10 years. So far so good. But what after that? Will Kerala go the Karnataka way for the Congress? Will the victory, if it happens, be overshadowed by factionalism and power tussle in the state unit? For quite some time now, the Congress in Kerala has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Shashi Tharoor, who was for many years the brightest Congress star in Kerala and also a symbol of inner party democracy, has of late been a source of constant embarrassment for the grand-old party. Tharoor, whose differences with the Congress leadership have made headlines, has given the party’s rivals, especially the BJP, enough political fodder to undermine the leadership of the Gandhis.So, what did the Congress leadership do to solve this crisis? Well, nothing for almost a year. After a prolonged dilly-dally, as the election approaches, the top leadership finally gave an audience to Tharoor to send out a message that “all is well”. However, we still do not know the outcome of this truce meeting. Tharoor has now claimed that he is on “same page” with the leadership and ready to campaign for the party. Unfortunately, this dilly-dally approach of the top Congress leadership in Kerala is not an exception. When it comes to power tussles in states, the Congress high command has been found procrastinating, shying away from taking hard decisions – one way or the other. This has led to unpleasant situations and even political desertions in some cases. Several Congress leaders have left the party in the last 12 years claiming the high command did little to resolve disputes.
