Singh may yet be king

Manmohan Singh has been described as an ineffective Prime Minister -- with no freedom worth the name to carry out policies which he thinks will pull the nation out of the crisis it is in today.

There is, however, another point of view which holds that the Economics professor is an intellectual alright, someone who can be pushed up to a point, and not beyond.

When Singh was appointed Prime Minister in 2004, he had no power base in the party because he was not a politician in his own right.

It was then felt widely that Sonia Gandhi had chosen to install him in the hot seat because she believed that he would be malleable enough not to challenge her leadership.

What this meant was that the Prime Minister would refrain from adopting “hard”, but necessary, economic decisions, which would have a negative fallout vis-a-vis the Government’s image, unless cleared by the Congress Party chief.

Circumspection

During the past nine years, the Gandhi family has evolved, with Rahul Gandhi coming of age, in a manner of speaking. One consequence of this is his elevation to the vice-presidency of the Congress Party, the general expectation being that he is being groomed to take over the top party position from his mother.

The question is: does he also take over the Government as the Prime Minister on the assumption that the Congress finds itself in that position in the wake of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls? Already, there is talk that there should not be a division in the power-centre relating to the party and the Government — the inference being that Rahul Gandhi should take over as Prime Minister as well.

Singh’s non-committal reply to the question of whether he would accept the Prime Minister’s mantle if UPA is returned to power should be seen against this backdrop.

He had said: “These are all hypothetical issues. We will cross the bridge when we reach there”. The least that can be said about the reply is that he was absolutely proper in giving it.

Coalition challenges

The long and the short of it is that nothing certain can be said about what will unfold after the results of the 2014 elections are declared next year.

If the performance of the Congress is lacklustre, Rahul Gandhi ought not to be pitch-forked into the position of Prime Minister because he would be completely out of his depth in handling the likes of Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Jayalalithaa, Sharad Pawar, Karunanidhi, et al . In that situation, the continuation of the present arrangement could well be an important contribution — which would mean that Manmohan Singh would remain Prime Minister.

However, should the Congress pass the electoral test with flying colours, it would be the right moment to appoint Rahul Gandhi Prime Minister, which of course would lead to Manmohan Singh’s “retirement”.

In any case, coalition politics is here to stay — and get stronger with the passage of time. Will Rahul Gandhi be able to master the art of managing a coalition, if and when he becomes Prime Minister? This should be the issue staring Sonia Gandhi in the face.

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