Dilemma for Rahul Gandhi in MP: Young blood vs old warhorses

The doughty spirit of Congress to win back Madhya Pradesh after 15 long years is note worthy but the factionalism that kept it behind the line could again jeopardise their chances in the Lok Sabha elections that will be held in less than six months from now.

Picture from Kamal Nath's Twitter account.

New Delhi: The Congress may have had the last laugh in Madhya Pradesh but the difficulty to choose the chief minister is far from over. The camps of Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kamal Nath are in the middle of a tug of war to elect their leader to the top post. The challenge for the Congress is to now make a generational shift and if opts to do so then Scindia would be preferred. Both the leaders have however left it upon the party leadership to decide which would be the most appropriate way to deal with the edgy situation. Before the Rahul-led leadership can make choice, supporters of Scindia and Nath have already begun aggressively displaying show of strength. The situation is not as bad as Rajasthan where Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot’s supporters came off face to face Wednesday morning. Rahul is ambivalent about giving the baton to 47-year-old Scindia which could resent the 72-year-old veteran.  Nath showed a large heart by visiting the outgoing chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the morning making some political experts believe that the former will take the CM’s throne. Digvijay Singh was 46 when he first became the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh so was Gehlot at around that age. But Rahul is forced to cogitate over the fact that Kamal Nath’s experience and skill could probably not be matched by Scindia.  On the other hand, Scindia has high chances to resonate with the youth of the state and can also galvanise the party injecting fresh blood. However, both Scindia and Kamal Nath can’t be discredited for propelling the party at least to the finish life but the top post is only a single-seater. A deputy post can be floated to placate either of the two. The doughty spirit of Congress to win back Madhya Pradesh after 15 long years is note worthy but the factionalism that kept it behind the line could again jeopardise their chances in the Lok Sabha elections that will be held in less than six months from now. The young vs old barrier could very well be broken by the veteran minds working with the Gandhi scion in 10, Janpath.