Congress committing harakiri by suspending Jakhar

The stunning success of the Aam Aadmi Party in the recent Punjab Assembly elections caught everyone’s attention so much that most people spent little time on some of the low drama that played out on the sidelines within the state Congress. After all, the retreat of a shambolic Congress from centre stage was partly predictable, and even the entire Akali Dal pantheon had been rendered hors de combat.

Who had time, therefore, to reminisce about a tweet put out by former state unit chief, Sunil Jakhar? Well, trust the Grand Old Party to take time out—even as its own spectacular collapse is the talk of town—to take disciplinary action against one of its own trusted veterans. Jakhar must face a two-year suspension for speaking his mind on mistakes made by the party, says a committee headed by A K Antony. 

What had Jakhar said actually? That the high command had erred in choosing Charanjit Channi as the CM, when he had won more votes from MLAs in an internal election process. The son of former Union minister and Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar, an agriculture expert in his own right, and a rare Hindu leader in Punjab, Jakhar is an undeniable asset to the Congress.

Can a party that’s already facing high levels of attrition, and seeing loss of territory (and leaders) to the AAP everywhere from Jammu and Himachal to Assam, throw out whatever leadership resources it has? If it won’t let a maverick consultant like Prashant Kishor set its house in order, that is its prerogative. But should it allow its own jaded old guard—the very inertia-ridden cabal that PK wanted to free the party from—to ruin whatever it has? Luckily, for now the decision is in abeyance. Sonia Gandhi has more sagacity than the rest of the brains trust put together. But it bodes ill for the INC.