Lessons from Indira

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A general secretary taking charge of Andhra Pradesh during YS Rajashekhar Reddy's tenure went to meet Sonia. She wished him luck but also told him to "see to it that YSR's opponents are not crushed by him".

Closest to Indira and her favourite bahu Sonia had learnt from Indira's mistakes. Absolute power usually destroys the one who exerts it. So keep the party divided.

Sonia encourages it. It's there to see.

The first leader she met as soon as Haryana results poured in was not chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, but his arch rival Birender Singh. Birender Singh has lost in these assemble elections, ending competition to Hooda. Sonia was people tell me more worried about this than the fact that Congress had not performed well in the state.

Sonia has been watching Indira. She has learnt from Indira's mistakes. But she has also carried on with a bit of indira.

There is no doubt about it. 10 Janpath is supreme. Sonia allows no competition to that. To the extent that soft, safe leaders like SM Krishna, Shivraj Patil are encourgaed and allowed to grow. A Pranab Mukherjee is indispensable but he is not allowed to feel that.

But Sonia encourages opposition and competition within the party. Which is why the general secretary was told to encourage YSR's rivals. Which is why there is always a check and balance system in place.

But danger lurks. Take the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections. There was Kamalnath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Digvijay Singh and Suresh Pachauri. Each was allowed to grow. Sonia hoped that by keeping the chief minister candidate issue in a confused state, all would be encouraged to work hard. The opposite happened. Each of the above leader concentrated only in areas of their influence. More time and energy was spent on cutting each other. Sonia's inner party democracy fell flat.

As Congress remembers Indira on her 25th death anniversary, the party finds itself in the same

That's the problem with the Congress. Elections are lost not because of good performance by its rivals. But because Congress fights each other more than they fight their rivals.

25 years on...Indira's legacy has to be repackaged.