The Modi Tsunami has not only shattered the self-belief of Congress that it’s the natural candidate to rule, the electoral drubbing has also brought to question the quality of its leadership like never before. As the Congress completes two months in Opposition, CL Manoj takes a look at how some of the leading ministers of the Manmohan Singh Cabinet are coping with life after their 10-year spell in power.

1. Manmohan Singh After shifting out of 7, Race Course, to his retirement home, 3, Motilal Nehru Marg, former prime minister Manmohan Singh has grown only more invisible and less audible. Singh turns up in the Rajya Sabha every day during the Budget session: He quietly walks in, spends a few hours watching the proceedings and leaves quietly. His single major political statement happened last Sunday evening at an Iftaar evening hosted by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi where he said if reports were true that Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s house was bugged, there should be a probe. Otherwise, we are told, Singh spends most of his time at home reading, watching TV news and spending time with family and visitors. The Congress circles, in the meantime, wonder whether Singh will ultimately write an autobiography.



Party activity: Continues to be a Congress Working Committee (CWC) member, but not involved in party affairs any more

2. AK Antony The former defence minister may be the quickest to get over the hangover of power. After all, AK Antony, often called St Antony of Indian politics, is more at home without the trappings of power. So, within days of Modi taking charge, he shot off a letter to home minister Rajnath Singh requesting removal of the security ring around him and seeking a smaller accommodation (even though the posts he held in the past entitle him to continue where he is now). Rajnath politely refused Antony’s pitch for a life without security. But our man persisted, and now the government has promised to get him a smaller house. In the meantime, Antony has worked on a probe report on why Congress lost. That should be kid’s play given he had already scripted half-a-dozen reports on other Congress’ ailments.



Party activity: A CWC member, Antony remains what he has been – chief counsellor of the Nehru–Gandhis. The real post-poll blast was his public warning of how Congress’ secularism is being seen as pro-minority.

3. P Chidambaram Well, the political Delhi may tell us Arun Jaitley’s maiden budget has reminded one and all how P Chidambaram’s economic doctrine could cut through political and ideological barriers. Yet, PC was mostly lying low post-poll, barring a few statements that he issued. One hears, PC, along with son Karthi, was there in Brazil during the soccer carnival. After all, PC, while not keen to walk the electoral minefi eld of Tamil Nadu in Polls 2014, said he wanted to do and enjoy things that he could not do for 10 years’ of running against time. Yet, many thought – apparently, even Sonia Gandhi – PC should be a valuable player for the Congress in Parliament. The buzz in the Congress is how some seasoned Congress leaders joined hands to sabotage – by playing the Cauvery water-dispute card – PC’s potential entry into Rajya Sabha from Karnataka. PC has resumed his legal practice and set up base temporarily at the Delhi Gymkhana. He has started giving opinion, settling briefs and doing arbitration. For now, however he is not arguing in court.



Party activity: The guessing game is whether Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will promote PC in the AICC set-up by letting him grow beyond being an invitee to the CWC. Hopefully he will not be asked to work on reviving ‘Kamraj Rule’ by becoming the PCC chief of Tamil Nadu.

4. Sushilkumar Shinde His shock defeat from Latur seat has turned the future political script of Shinde upside down. Sonia Gandhi had hinted to Shinde that he would be topmost in her mind should Prithiviraj Chavan be replaced as the chief minister of Maharashtra. But Shinde expressed his reluctance, saying such a course would be politically incorrect after he lost the LS polls. For the time being, Shinde spends more time in Maharashtra. In the past, during such ‘intervals’, Gandhi had given him AICC work and key roles in the state.

Party activity: CWC member. Not many in the Congress are ready to write off Shinde, the man whom Sonia once gifted the autobiography of President Barack Obama.

5. Kapil Sibal Though Sibal was among the most vocal ministers of the UPA, the only time he hit headlines recently was for moving into a house which reportedly tops Delhi’s rent rate. But that is peanuts for Sibal given he is also among the most expensive lawyers. So Sibal is back to his legal practice and he recently got Ex-Maharsahtra CM, Ashok Chavan a stay in the paid-news case.



Party activity: Watch out the evolving politics of Delhi state, especially in his old seat of Chandni Chowk.

6. Kamal Nath Even after the Congress defeat, Kamal Nath had retained his characteristic drive and ambition, till Madam overlooked his desire to head the party in the Lok Sabha. Finally ended up not even getting that Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chief’s post. Some wonder whether that’s the reason why Nath is not seen in the Lok Sabha regularly these days.



Party activity: Given that he is a perennial back-room player, Nath is bound to get busier when the party is in need of trouble-shooters.

7. Salman Khurshid Last time he was on frontpages was when he appeared as the lawyer of ex-Tehalka editor Tarun Tejpal in the Supreme Court and got him bail. Khurshid now fully busy in reviving his legal practice – busy in the court during the day and later meeting meetings with clients in the evening. With the UP Congress remaining shattered, many feel for Khurshid spending days in the court is much better than dirtying his hands on the ground in political work.



Party activity: His well-wishers insist he still craves for another battle in Farrukhabad constituency despite coming fourth in 2014 poll.

8. Jairam Ramesh His well-wishers would convince you that Rahul will persist, postpoll defeat, with his in-house experiments and reforms. And that talk of how Ramesh has, of late, stopped going to the Congress’ ‘war-room’ at Rakabganj Road is plain silly given the war-room itself was bombed out in the poll blitzkrieg. Yet, there is an increasing buzz about how the Team Rahul has developed some critical fi ssures post-poll.



Party activity: Congress cynics keep asking whether Ramesh is visiting the offi ce of PR fi rm Genesis Burson-Marsteller these days. For the unitiated, the said Cong cynics were not happy the way GBM handled the party’s multi-crore election publicity contract.

9. Veerappa Moily He is one of the 44 Congress survivors of Rout 2014. The former oil minister now seems focused both on his professional and creative sides. The lawyer in Moily has already opened a Delhi branch of ‘Moily & Associates’ as part of expanding his legal work in the Supreme Court. An acclaimed author, this former Karnataka CM is wakes up daily at 4am to immerse himself in creative writing (till 7am). His award-winning Kannada work – Draupadi – is about to be published in Hindi and English. We hear Moily is also making fast progress on his two other books – on the new challenges in administration and governance.



Party activity: It goes without saying Moily keeps a close eye, like many other Karnataka Congress leaders, on how chief minister Siddaramaiah is fast losing his grip on state party and government.