Editor's Pick: The Congress's internal struggle

(The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.)

The internal tussle in the Congress between those favouring the status quo and those seeking an overhaul is set to take centrestage at a crucial meeting of the Congress Working Committee meeting today. A letter endorsed by over 300 party functionaries including those part of the senior leadership, which questioned the party's style of functioning and called for reform, has been made public ahead of the meeting. This is an apparent challenge to the leadership of the Gandhis -- Sonia is the interim head of the party, and the party's official stand is that 'millions of party workers' want Rahul back in the saddle. Faced with this situation, Sonia has told the party leadership that she does not want to continue as the interim head. This, in turn, has triggered a show of support for the Gandhis from Congress Chief Ministers and other State-level party leaders.

The internal divisions in Congress has had major fallouts in governance in the few States that the party rules. The Madhya Pradesh government fell, and the Rajasthan government was pulled back from the brink of collapse.

The party faces an unrelenting opposition from the BJP, which has not held back from exploiting any fissure it has found. The Congress is currently the single-largest party in the opposition in Parliament and its organisational viability has major ramifications for India's democratic set up -- giving this story its importance. Add to this the fact that seeking a non-Nehru-Gandhi leadership is a tectonic shift for India's Grand Old Party.

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