If somebody asks me why the Congress is getting wiped off from states, I would cite the absence of strong regional leadership as the main reason. Congress can't impress upon people to vote in the Assembly elections depending on its central leadership. People have rejected high command culture. Thus, the Congress requires strong regional leaders. In contrast, the BJP not only has a strong central leadership, but also has strong state-level leaders. That's why it has been able to expand its foot print in various states while the Congress has been gradually shrinking.

Allowing dissent in a political party has great advantages as it is indicative of inter party democratic values. For example, although many say that Narendra Modi is an authoritarian including the Congress which calls him a dictator of the BJP, yet there are dissenters like Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Shatrughan Sinha in the party who openly vent their anger at Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Now compare this with the Congress party, where no one has the courage to speak against the Gandhi family out of fear of being thrown out from the party. Shehzad Poonawalla is the latest example.

The Congress needs to grow regional mass leaders. It was utter disrespect of Himanta Biswa Sarma that ensured Congress seriously losing in the Northeast. After YSR there's no credible mass leader of Congress in Andhra Pradesh or Telangana. The same is the situation in Odisha, Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Now the question is why there aren't any strong regional faces from the Congress? The simple answer is due to the groupism prevailing inside the party, which the central leadership knowingly or unknowingly encourages.

Let me say very clearly that Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia are two credible Congress faces in Rajasthan and MP respectively. If they are really encouraged they might succeed in consolidating Congress' position in Rajasthan and MP. But then, there's groupism in both Rajasthan and MP state leaderships. Ashok Gehlot group doesn't want Sachin Pilot to become powerful. Similarly, in MP, both Digvijay Singh and Kamalnath will try to sabotage Scindia's growth. It should be remembered that Congress lost the 2012 Punjab Assembly election only due to this groupism. However, in 2017, because of party's full support to Captain Amarinder Singh, the Congress registered a landslide victory.

In Odisha, I notice that almost every month a congress group goes to meet the party high command. These visits are still continuing despite the BJP taking over all Congress dominated areas of Odisha elevating itself as the number two party after the ruling BJD. Thus, Rahul Gandhi needs to work on the Congress organisational structure meticulously to dislodge such groups and allow grooming of regional leaders so that they can become the face of Congress in their respective states.

Rahul Gandhi should follow Narendra Modi's policy and retire all old politicians and instil his faith in Young Turks. Allow dissent inside the party. Let there be open debates in the larger interest of the party, on what to do, and how to move forward. The coterie system must be abolished and the motor mouth leaders like Kapil Sibal, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Digvijay Singh must be side-lined.

The bottom line is that the Congress party is in urgent need of an overhaul.