Rahul believes that preventing PM Modi from seeking a second term was more important than sparring over who should lead the opposition.

In a move aimed at uniting the opposition parties, Congress president Rahul Gandhi is likely to soon declare that he was not in the race for the Prime Minister’s position. Taking stock of the current situation, Rahul has prioritised his political agenda, and believes that preventing Prime Minister Narendra Modi from seeking a second term was far more important than sparring over who should lead the alliance that would challenge the saffron brigade. “The first objective is to prevent Narendra Modi from retaining his pivotal role in the government and everything else can follow later”, a source in the Congress stated.

Rahul, who has been at the forefront of attacking the Prime Minister, apparently concurs with the idea of several Bharatiya Janata Party dissidents, who have publicly stated that the last chance to salvage India’s democracy was to defeat the BJP in 2019. In this context, it is irrelevant as to who should head the coalition. Therefore, since certain sections of the media have constantly been projecting Rahul as the principal opponent, he has taken a conscious decision to concentrate solely on strengthening his own party, leaving the question of the overall leadership open for regional players.

The well-considered shift in the strategy is to allow the focus to move from Modi versus Rahul to a more pragmatic assessment of cobbling the coalition to take on the National Democratic Alliance headed by the BJP. Several of the NDA constituents have serious differences with the BJP leadership, but have continued with the alliance only because they prefer the saffron brigade to the Congress. In the changed scenario, where one of the regional satraps, and not the Congress, would be the spearhead of the proposed opposition challenge, these NDA partners will also have an option open to them.

Rahul, during his close interaction with many party activists, has realised that the BJP was using the traditional aversion of some regional parties towards the Congress to keep them away from the opposition coalition. Once Rahul voluntarily opts out of the PM race, the message that would be loud and clear is that any regional leader could acquire the coveted position in the post poll scenario. Therefore, the tussle for the PM’s chair in the run-up to the 2019 polls should not dilute the combined challenge, but provide the space to the regional parties to keep their hopes alive.

The reading in the political class is that the message that had emanated from the RSS interactive meet in New Delhi was that the Sangh was looking at the current developments realistically, taking into account the need to promote inclusiveness in politics. A tinge of disappointment was evident in the manner in which Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS chief, addressed queries at the conclave. Thus, it was apparent that the immediate urgency of the RSS was to keep the country united, and for that they were willing to take a backseat at several places during the Lok Sabha battle.

On his part, Rahul has been advised by some of his close aides that he should train his guns on Modi rather than the RSS, since that would reap greater political dividends. He has further been cautioned that some of the senior leaders from within his own party were, at his expense, indulging in Machiavellian politics. They were merely interested in once again occupying ministerial berths in a coalition government, and were unconcerned whether Rahul was the Prime Minister or not. The demands of realpolitik entailed his withdrawal from the PM contest while ensuring that the primary task ahead of him was to prevent Modi from becoming the Prime Minister again.

Rahul is also aware that at present, people were not prepared to accept him as the main opponent of Modi, and it was the BJP which was spurring the media to speculate regarding his ambitions by planting stories. A few months ago, there was an uproar when while replying to queries, he had answered a hypothetical question concerning the future of his party and Prime Ministership; his response was totally torn out of context and completely blown out of proportion.

Only time will tell whether these change of strategy will work.