The lastest drubbing in an election for the Indian National Congress was not a surprise but what did surprise even the strongest critic of the Grand Old Party was the level to which it was decimated. The party now has lost the only large state it had in power, Punjab and has been relegated to the smaller states. The relevance of the party at the national level has been on a decline in the past decade with many loyalists starting to speak up or switch camps.

After the recent debacle, the usual storyline continued to play out with every single news outlet predicting the outcome. Some even went on record to predict the step by step process that would be followed during the CWC (Congress Working Committee) meeting that was held earlier this week. The Gandhi family with other members of the CWC met and decided to work on finding out what the issues were that people have lost trust in them.

Indian National Congress President Sonia Gandhi offered to resign along with her children from the helm of the party. Before any member at the meeting could accept or even acknowledge the offer, an almost premeditated hue and cry started with members begging the Gandhi family to continue with their role and not give up on them. Some senior leaders even went on to say that it was the Gandhi family that held the party together and without them, the party would disintegrate.

What seems like an eternity ago, a group of senior Congress leaders had written to Sonia Gandhi for full-time leadership and sweeping changes in the organisational structure of the party. This group led by Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal, Sashi Tharoor and a few others were branded as the G-23 by the media and as rebels by the Gandhi loyalists. A few members of this group were also part of the CWC meeting and it is said that they were not able to get much of a word in.

As the speculations rise over what the course of action would be taken, Sonia Gandhi has demanded the resignation of the party chiefs of all the 5 states where they lost the elections, putting the onus firmly on the shoulders of the state leaders and absolving Rahul and Priyanka of all accounts of the loss.

The Congress may have a new issue on their hands as the murmurs for a leadership change have increased to a rattle and more and more senior leaders are demanding action. While reports have said that the G-23 list has been growing, there have also been reports of a dinner meeting of these members being organised at the residence of Ghulam Nabi Azad the other day. They don’t seem to have taken Sonia Gandhi’s promise of introspection very seriously.

It did come as a surprise to most that Rahul Gandhi has not “voiced” his opinion on the matter. We launched a full investigation into the matter and we found out that the former Congress president and MLA from Wayanad is on his path to becoming ordained as a monk.

Read full article at https://thedailyvanilla.com/2022/03/17/rahul-gandhi-to-be-declared-an-honorary-buddhist-monk/