Dear Sir, first mistake is to consider present day congress as a 123 years old party. Just because Election comission recognises it so officially it is not so. This congress has nothing common with the old congress, neither the symbol, flag, leadership style, party democrasy, the calibre of leaders, second line leadership just to name a few. However this party with the ideology it inherits has a lot of potential, unfortunately it does not have the people to deliver it. Congress has unfortunately stunted the growth of its leadership in an effort to save the family. Mrs. sonia gandhi did wonders for the congress, but she has her limitations. What she needs to do before the mumbai visit is to read her husband's famous mumbai speech and act on it. People of india are fed of seeing the same old faces and their antics. RKdhavan, Motilal vora, arjunsing and other self serving congressmen have done enough damage to the party and deserve to be publicly disgraced.people withno capacity to get elected even as a munciple corporator are ruling the so called oldest party. The party should ponder over its success in delhi and ask why it won and lost elsewherew. The party will find solution.
I don't think Sonia-led Congress, which is referred in this article as simply Congress, is ready for reality check even now. They (Sonia-led Congress men) are still under the impression that their party is 123 years old which is far from reality. Actually Sonia led Congress is an erstwhile Indira Congress, abbreviated as Congress (I), which came into existence only around 1970. Simple arithmetic will tell how old is (Sonia-led) Congress. And they (the Congressmen) expect people to believe it! Claiming today's Congress to be the same as original Congress simply because the present leader has a family connection with the leader of original Congress is equivalent to claiming the party as a family enterprise. Congressmen also mistake (and expect people to do likewise) the organized show of the party workers' support to their leader as people's real support to their party. But as party workers are handful compared to the voters, they cannot influence election results. The "High Command" seems to be all powerful reducing the leaders with mass base to nothing more than puppets. Congressmen fail to realize that that charisma of Nehru and Gandhi isn't working for them much these days.
I feel the Congress should understand that one party governance is no more a reality and try come to a consensus with other parties including BJP and form a government. With the true ideals of "Bapuji" on villages, more work needs to be done on the country side rather than the urban areas. Our government and other LS representatives should understand these basics rather than fight for the vote banks.
It's a pity to see the once vibrant Congress with a defined ideological ground being reduced to a moribund state now. Silence may be golden for the learned intelligentsia but it's isn't so for Sonia Gandhi with her apparent lack of sharp political acumen and her not so flatterring frown..!Now, Who is leading the party Yes ! Obviously Sonia but for all the wrong reasons..She is indifferent to the few wise lot who begs to differ with her. So that leaves the logic of reason and rationale right outside her doorstep. It's indeed rather obscene now to see leaders of all hues and colours prostrate before her at her beck and all. Congress has still miles to go before it's leaders know the value of self respect .
The congress need not focus on building up a coalition, since that would mean nothing more than following BJP. BJP acclimatized itself to the changing circumastances, followed its principles and won. The Congress needs to work on its 'basics'. It should see as to what 'it promised' and what 'it delivered'. The single-most important issue in India is 'Corruption' which is considered as an 'evil gifted by congress' to India. The congress can re-structure itself completely and 'free the Congress-ruled states from Corruption'. Today, Congress and Corruption are sysnonymous. If a person is referred to as a 'Congressi', general public defaults it to a highly corrupt government official.