Rahul Gandhi is priming for a second coming. But has he overcome the shortcomings that felled him in 2019?

May 1, 2020, 1:36 pm IST in TOI Editorials | India | TOI

Rahul Gandhi’s online video conference with former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan is being viewed as a precursor to his return to the Congress president’s post. Recently, interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi had constituted a consultative committee headed by Manmohan Singh but packed with Rahul’s coterie to formulate the party’s political and policy views in the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic. The absence of any other contender for the top Congress post in the past one year has again propelled the Gandhi scion by default into pole position.

It will be interesting to see how Gandhi approaches the job this time about. The planned interactions with experts from various walks of life has kicked off well with Rahul posing some pertinent questions on the state of the country and the world at large to the respected economist. During his earlier stint as heir apparent to the Congress president’s post, Rahul had similarly displayed his penchant for drawing technocrats close to him and for being seen at global think-tank conferences.

While Gandhi hopes to add heft to his leadership and intellectual bearing through such interactions, the failure to take up administrative berths when he had ample opportunity to do so will always remain a gaping hole in his CV. With elections turning increasingly presidential in nature, the bigger challenge for him is to rebuild the Congress organisation and to personally win greater credibility among the masses. His counterpart Prime Minister Narendra Modi is among the most charismatic politicians India has ever seen and formidable leaders like Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath are waiting in the wings. Rahul’s second coming will be closely watched for similarities and differences from his earlier stint as the country’s top opposition leader.

Read also- India needs to be cleverer in lifting lockdown: Raghuram Rajan tells Rahul Gandhi

 

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Rahul Khare

Rahul Gandhi\'s \"second coming\"? The paid media has been promoting the Nth coming of age of Rahul Gandhi. But that buffoon just does not have the me...

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Amrish Sharma

you people are writing this from last 10 years. Paid media

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Sandesh B

You can put lipstick on a pig but it will still stink. Try as hard as you can. Just by talking to a IIT/IIM topper does not make him look intelligent...

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