Page 13 - 15JUNE2019E

election 2018
Mandate

the support to farmers started pouring in as cash in hul’s political acumen has always been subjecting to
their accounts. Another fact is that Congress drew all dogged question marks. As results started pouring in,
the wrong lessons from its wins in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, where
Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. Congress has done fairly well, commented that Rahul
The results in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gandhi can’t be held responsible for the party debacle.
Chhattisgarh may have also fooled the Congress chief However, not just critics or the BJP, even UPA al-
into a false sense of security and raised an exagger- lies and regional chieftains have been skeptical about
ated notion about his own success. Sadly Rahul has Rahul’s competence as a leader. For instance, West
spent the better part of his political career witnessing Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee or Telangana
the diminishing footprint of Congress. You may blame chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao have openly
him or the dynastic the policy of the family or Con- been critical of Rahul’s leadership. Indeed, when the
gress. While the coterie around him has been careful Congress president finally presided over wins in three
about not letting the blame fall on his shoulders, Ra- Hindi heartland states and lost Gujarat by a whisker,

tehelka / 15 June 2019 13 www.tehelka.com