The first report suggested that the desperation was so high that in order to confine Modi, Priyanka Gandhi had agreed to contest Varanasi seat against Narendra Modi. Another paper reports that the Chief Ministers of the Congress have been told that if you cannot win seats, you will be replaced.

If both the reports are true, they only confirm how far cut off from reality the Congress has been. The Gandhis are under siege. The situation is akin to what happened to Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi in the run up to the 1977 general elections. Economic populism did not work. The family charisma has faded away. But a party which is merely a crowd around a family probably felt that the current leader in the family has not clicked. The real solution to the problem is to make Congress a more structured party.

The Congress party solution is, if one incumbent in the family fails, the alternative can only be another member of the family. In an earlier write-up, I had almost predicted this. I only wish that the desperate solution of Varanasi had been actually implemented. The country now needs the myth of the other family member also to be exploded.

The problem is not with the Congress Chief Ministers. If the Congress loses, it is not because of its Chief Ministers. It is squarely because of the quality of government they ran and the non-inspirational personality of Rahul Gandhi. When the problem is within the family, why is the Congress looking for scapegoats outside?