Old vs new: Will Congress take a cue from BJP ahead of Lok Sabha elections

NEW DELHI: The Congress, which lost the just-concluded assembly elections in the Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh to the BJP, faces a tough choice as it gears up for the 2024 Lok Sabha battle. Should the grand old party continue with its old guards - who failed to deliver in the three key states, or should it hand over the mantle of leadership to fresh faces, taking a cue from the BJP?
The BJP, after registering comprehensive victories in the assembly elections in the three state, ignored its top contenders - Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Raman Singh and Vasundhara Raje, who were all former chief ministers, and instead opted for fresh faces to lead its new governments.

The Congress, on the other hand, has been struggling to introduce a new line of leadership in the states. Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh and Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan have been at the helm of party affairs for decades.
In Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath's absence from a meeting of the newly-elected party MLAs on Thursday fueled speculations about leadership change in the state. Kamal Nath had a free hand in the assembly elections and he played a key role in keeping the INDIA bloc away from the state polls. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav openly slammed the Congress after seat-sharing arrangements between the two parties in MP failed. Aam Aadmi Party also contested MP elections on several seats.

After the Congress's dismal performance, INDIA bloc leaders targeted the grand old party and accused it of derailing the anti-BJP coalition. Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh, both former chief ministers of the state, call the shots in Madhya Pradesh Congress. Their stronghold over the party perhaps led to the exit of Jyotiraditya Scindia from the party which led to the fall of the Kamal Nath government. Scindia later joined the BJP and is now a Union minister.

In Rajasthan, the grand old party faced a lot of embarrassment in the run up to assembly elections as Ashok Gehlot resisted attempts of his former deputy Sachin Pilot to take centrestage in state's politics. Sachin Pilot, who had played a key role in the party's victory in 2018 assembly elections, rebelled against the party.