The defection of eight of its eleven MLAs in Goa has spooked the Congress so much that it is likely to adopt the consensus route, instead of a contest, to choose its next president.
It was Chief Spokesperson Jairam Ramesh who betrayed the nervousness within the party over the prospect of a no-holds-barred election. ``In the history of the Indian National Congress, generally we’ve selected people by consensus,’’ he said recently. This was what late Congress stalwart K Kamaraj advocated, he pointed out,``to talk to everybody and find a suitable consensus choice."
It looks like the party is now chickening out after boasting about its commitment to internal democracy through``free and fair polls.’
Amid fears that a contest would only batter an already fragile party that is bleeding senior leaders, MPs and MLAs at a frightening rate, top strategists are believed to be weighing two options.