India 2021 assembly elections - TN, Kerala, WB, Assam, and perhaps J&K

[Mike88]

INC announced that it will election a new Prez in June, after the assembly elections, to replace interim Prez Sonia Gandhi.  I guess what they are going to do is to deploy Rahul Gandhi in states where INC could do well (TN Kerala Assam) and if INC does do well then announce Rahul Gandhi's triumphant return to the role of INC Prez.

Isn't Rahul Gandhi a huge flop? I think I read somewhere, sometime ago, that his sister, Priyanka Gandhi, was way more popular than him. Is that true?

[Mike88]

INC announced that it will election a new Prez in June, after the assembly elections, to replace interim Prez Sonia Gandhi.  I guess what they are going to do is to deploy Rahul Gandhi in states where INC could do well (TN Kerala Assam) and if INC does do well then announce Rahul Gandhi's triumphant return to the role of INC Prez.

Isn't Rahul Gandhi a huge flop? I think I read somewhere, sometime ago, that his sister, Priyanka Gandhi, was way more popular than him. Is that true?

I do not think Priyanka Gandhi is that interested.  Or stated differently, the INC today has two factions: the Sonia Gandhi Old Guard faction and the Rahul Young Turks faction.  The  Rahul Gandhi  would not let Priyanka Gandhi come and take the crown.  While Rahul Gandhi did a better job on the campaign trail in 2019 vs 2014 he was a total flop as a election strategy leader in 2019.  Worse what Rahul Gandhi seems to want now is to be in charge but not accountable.  He does not want to be the Prez to avoid accountability.  What he is looking for is for the  Sonia Gandhi Old Guard faction to come beg him to take over so he then can come in with a mandate to purge the  Sonia Gandhi Old Guard faction.  Until then he has de facto control of the party (or most of it) and no one is really interested in taking over as INC Prez just to be undercut by Rahul Gandhi and take the blame for any setbacks.

The only way forward for the INC is hope that Rahul Gandhi does well enough leading INC into the assembly election this cycle for him to return to INC Prez with a mandate and purge enough of the  Sonia Gandhi Old Guard faction so he will then have complete control of the party and then organize to take on BJP in 2024.  All in all there is less than 1/3 chance in my view for the INC to do well enough in 2021 assembly election for this to take place so continued purgatory for INC might continue to the benefit of Modi/BJP.

What a mess INC is in. It seems that the Gandhi family has become toxic for the party and it is much more a problem than a solution. Like any family business/company, when the business is fully dependent on one family, it's doomed to fail.