NEW DELHI: Sonia Gandhi, who virtually has taken a backseat, could pitch herself in the forefront again if Congress suffers a “tremor” by a 0-4 verdict against it in the Assembly elections as predicted by exit polls.
The talk in Congress circles is that such a verdict, not counting Mizoram, could lead to other “drastic” changes, party sources said.
A drubbing in the elections could make Gandhi play a more proactive role to prepare the party for the Lok Sabha elections, a task she had entrusted to son Rahul in the current Assembly elections, they said.
Changes are expected to be effected both in the organization and the government with several ministers likely to be drafted for organizational work at a time when the Lok Sabha elections are just five months away.
Senior leaders of the party, however, expect that the show put up by the party in the Assembly polls would not be as bad as was being projected by a section of the media and in the exit polls.
At the same time, there is a realization that a 0-4 verdict against the party in the polls in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh would mean that there is an anti-UPA wave in the country.
The section feels that a 3-1 verdict will give the party a breathing space to get its act together ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
A 2-2 verdict in the polls would turn the Congress aggressive, strengthen the organization as also the leadership of Rahul and would be seen as a setback for BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi who was its star campaigner.
If the Congress performs poorly, then the arrogance of a section of party leaders including Union ministers needed to be blamed, said a senior leader who did not wanted to be named.
The Congress has officially trashed the findings of the exit polls by insisting that its performance in states like Chhattisgarh would be more than what predicted by the TV news channels.
The results of the Assembly polls are scheduled to be out on Sunday.–PTI
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