Shaky pillars force Sonia Gandhi to step in; Congress now feels heat in Himachal, Manipur and Meghalaya

With the Congress now reduced to holding power in just seven states – a historic low – the party leadership is scrambling to quell dissidence by opening a communication with MLAs, lest these states too follow the path of Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh.

On Monday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi interacted with Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh, whom the party believes could be the next target. The BJP is already demanding his resignation after the CBI last October raided his residence in connection with a disproportionate assets case. Singh is the first chief minister in office to be raided.

Sonia is planning to have a series of such meetings with other state leaders as well in the coming days.

The party has lost Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh to rebellion within its ranks. Senior party leaders, who are accusing the Centre and the ruling BJP of engineering defections, smell replication of similar events now in Manipur, Meghalaya and Himachal Pradesh.

They allege that fuelling rebellion and supporting dissidents to rock Congress governments goes in tune with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's slogan of 'Congress Mukt Bharat', and also to shore up numbers in the Rajya Sabha, where it is facing an uphill task to seek passage of crucial legislations.

While the BJP and its allies now hold power in 12 states, the Congress is reduced to seven, with just Kerala and Karnataka as major states. Another state, Assam, is in the midst of polls, and three other tiny states in the Northeast are in a weak situation. Many senior party leaders at the AICC headquarters also agree that Rahul Gandhi's new system was not working well and his team was not equipped to handle such issues. Though they appreciate him for ensuring inner-party democracy and giving greater say to workers, they are cribbing at being alienated.

Rebels, both in Arunachal Pradesh and now in Uttarakhand, also blame Rahul's style of functioning and lack of communication with MLAs as a major reason for their walking out. Earlier, Sonia had summoned Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh and deputy chief minister Gaikhangam in connection with dissidence within the state unit of the party. In this state also, dissidents' strength is more than 25 out 48 Congress MLAs. Manipur is also scheduled to go to polls in February.

Manipur BJP president Thounaojam Chaoba is confident that his party will wrest power from the Congress, which has been in the saddle for the last three terms.

Congress' successive electoral debacles mean that it is now ruling a population of just 14.2 crore, less than that of the Samajwadi Party (SP), which rules Uttar Pradesh with 19.8 crore population. More significantly, none of industrial hubs except Karnataka are under its control. Others – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu – are all with non-Congress parties. Among others states, leading India's growth, only Himachal Pradesh now remains with the Congress.

Both former Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna and another rebel Harak Singh Rawat told dna that inaccessibility of Rahul Gandhi and his refusal to take time out led them to take such extreme step. "This (crisis) is entirely the weakness of the central leadership," said Bahuguna.

Rawat said when he had walked with Rahul Gandhi to Kedarnath, he had requested for a meeting to apprise him of the situation in Uttarakhand. "Since then I followed up with his office, but he never had time to meet us," he said, adding repeatedly that rebels have nothing against Congress. "Soniaji meets everybody, but there is never any solution from her. We have told (AICC general secretary in-charge) Ambika Soni many times but she always says there is nothing in her hands," Rawat claimed.