In 1998, when Sonia Gandhi saw the Congress disintegrating, she entered politics. Soon, she became the Congress party's President. The pieces stopped falling off and gradually the party became a fighting force again.

Now, 14 years later, a similar moment has come. Having overcome the ‘foreigner' objection, Sonia Gandhi must become the Prime Minister next month. And she should elevate Dr Manmohan Singh as India's 13th President.

There is simply no alternative left. It is the only thing that will revive the party and the government and give the Congress a fighting chance in the next general election.

The party now exists only in name in the large States of UP, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Maharashtra. These States account for about 280 seats in the Lok Sabha. The Congress will be lucky if it wins a tenth of these.

That aside, morale in the party is at its lowest ebb. Congress party functionaries at all levels are preparing for defeat. The public anger at inflation and corruption have convinced them that they are in for a spell in the Opposition.

When you talk to them, you can sense them preparing for the inevitable. You can see hopelessness in their eyes when you speak to them.

Someone, therefore, needs to boost their morale. There lies the problem. Whatever they may say in public about him, they know Rahul Gandhi isn't up to it. He has failed in three major states — UP, Bihar and West Bengal.

Nor, one imagines, would his mother like him to score a duck on debut at the Test Match level, which is what a general election is. Far better that she be PM for two years, improve the party's chances and then, if the Congress wins, hand over the office to him.

If the Congress gets far fewer seats than it has now, the UPA will still have a leader around whom it can stake a claim to form the government. The value of that cannot be under-estimated.

Ideal solution

Her becoming PM would be the ideal solution for three other very important reasons. First, it will solve the problem of who the next president will be. It can be Dr Singh.

With the SP voting with the UPA, provided its needs are satisfied, it seems pretty certain that any UPA candidate will win. Besides, Ms Gandhi owes him a debt of gratitude for taking all the public flak on her behalf. He is 80 and can justifiably look forward to some rest.

But most critically, if he is in Rashtrapati Bhavan, he can be relied upon to invite Sonia Gandhi ahead of other claimants, in case there is some doubt about the numbers in 2014.

Indeed, that was the only reason why the current incumbent was chosen over Pranab Mukherjee in 2007. She knew what was required of her.

Second, it will solve Ms Gandhi's apparent reluctance to make Pranab Mukherjee the President — or anything at all. He was always defiant of Dr Singh and never really acknowledged him as PM; now, from all accounts, he has started defying her also.

From a purely party point of view, the time has therefore come to send him into retirement. Besides, as President what is the guarantee that he will invite the Congress to form the next government if the numbers are ambiguous?

Third, and very important, Sonia Gandhi will halt Narendra Modi in his tracks. Sonia Gandhi cannot also be unmindful of the fact that Rahul is no match for him. Only she is.

That he will be the BJP's candidate is now almost certain. Only the timing of the announcement has to be worked out.

The bureaucracy

But before 2014 comes, there is half of 2012 and all of 2013 — or at least two-thirds of it — to be crossed. This is where galvanising the bureaucracy becomes critically important. It is after the only tool any government has.

The problem is that officers in policy making positions, across ministries, have simply stopped taking decisions.

They are mortally afraid of being held responsible for a decision being taken in good faith and if something goes wrong with it a few years later.

Few know it, but this is a key element in the policy paralysis which is being wrongly blamed entirely on coalition politics. Not for nothing has the word gone round that they have expressed their fears to the Cabinet Secretary and sought protection.

Sonia Gandhi can take care of their worries better than Dr Singh who is seen as having ceded too much ground, not just to ministers but also to various institutions and agencies.

She can be the strong PM that he not been, and there is nothing the civil servants like more than a PM or CM who will back them to the hilt.

So for immediate as well strategic political reasons, it makes sense for Sonia Gandhi to become PM. She must do so next month.

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