Who is the best person to lead or revive the Congress party? 49 per cent respondents in the latest India Today-Karvy Insights Mood of the Nation (MOTN) survey feel that a person from the Nehru-Gandhi family is best suited to be the Congress president and revive the party. This number has gone up from 29 per cent in the August 2019 MOTN poll.

MOTN survey 2020 was conducted between from December 21, 2019 to December 31, 2019. A total of 12,141 interviews were conducted (67 per cent rural and 33 per cent urban, and an almost equal number of females and males), spread across 97 parliamentary constituencies in 194 assembly constituencies in 19 states.

The survey shows nearly a fourth of the respondents (24 per cent) feel that Rahul Gandhi is the best candidate to lead the party, as against 11 per cent in the previous MOTN poll.

Following the Congress's dismal performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll- 52 seats, marginally better than the 44 won in 2014-Rahul Gandhi resigned as party president, taking responsibility for the rout. It was not only a rare gesture from a Nehru-Gandhi family member, who had so far been insulated from blame for electoral debacles, it also offered the Congress an opportunity to explore leadership beyond the dynastic tradition.

14 per cent of the people think Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should be the new party chief. Compared to Priyanka, the number for former prime minister Manmohan Singh - 10 per cent - is not far along. Meanwhile, 7 per cent feel Sachin Pilot should lead the Congress and 6 per cent think Jyotiraditya Scindia is best suited.

The Congress is the only pan-India opposition force against the BJP, and yet the party seems unable to find any leaders outside the Nehru-Gandhi family with a pan-India appeal. Even while affirming that the Nehru-Gandhis are still by far the Congress's best hopes, the majority of respondents (58 per cent) said the party is battling its gravest leadership crisis ever.

Several young leaders, such as Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia, even made veiled attempts to initiate an election to choose the next president. Even veterans like Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh argued in favour of a young party chief.

However, after dilly-dallying for three months, the Congress handed the reins back to Sonia Gandhi, exposing the bankruptcy of non-Nehru-Gandhi options.

As evident in the MOTN poll, no other Congress leader is seen to have the ability to revive the party. Sonia's appointment was supposed to be interim but, five months on, the Congress is yet to elect a new leader. As the poll suggests, bringing Sonia back was perhaps the party's best alternative.