Both Lalu Prasad and Ashok Gehlot jumped into the picture frame after the Supreme Court stayed Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in the Modi surname defamation case. The Supreme Court is known for not springing surprises and Rahul Gandhi was assured of relief. The top court’s decision was a big boost to the opposition, especially to the Congress, which wants to fight the 2024 general elections under the “able” leadership of the 53-year-old Gandhi scion.

Rahul Gandhi was beginning to look like a credible challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was disqualified from the Lok Sabha after his conviction in the Modi surname defamation case. Given the maximum sentence of two years and ‘not a day less”, it smelled of a plot. Rahul Gandhi troubled the BJP which desperately wants a third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Perhaps the BJP feared that Rahul Gandhi would be the Congress party’s ‘PM Face’. What if the combined Opposition chose Rahul Gandhi as its ‘PM Face’? And this time one did get the feeling that the Gandhi family wasn’t against the notion of “Rahul Gandhi for PM”, UPA chairperson and de facto Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi in particular.

Now we have Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot stating it openly. Gehlot is no “chotta-motta Congress neta”, he is right there in the company of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and is somebody who is a close confidante of the Gandhi family. Mr. Gehlot was the family’s frontrunner for the topmost Congress post.

Gehlot’s call that Rahul Gandhi is Congress PM-face will have plenty of takers from the top echelons of the Congress. We can expect more Congress leaders to echo Gehlot. The Supreme Court’s stay on Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in the 2019 Modi surname defamation case appears to have reminded the Congress how close Rahul Gandhi was to losing his dynastic right to become the Prime Minister of India! It was a near disaster, a close call.

Before Rahul Gandhi there was his father Rajiv Gandhi who became Prime Minister and that, too, without ever holding any ministerial/political office. And Rajiv Gandhi followed his own mother Indira Gandhi who too was Prime Minister. Of course, Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister from the family. The Congress had gotten used to a Nehru-Gandhi at the helm of the party and a Gandhi-led Government of India.

After August 4, 2023, the Gandhi family owes its continuing political relevance, in this age and time when dynastic succession is abhorred, to the top court of India which decided punishing Rahul Gandhi with an end to his political career was too much punishment. The court said as much even as it pointed out to Rahul Gandhi that his Modi surname remark was abhorrent and not in good taste.

The final word, however, on that came from RJD leader and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav who hosted Rahul Gandhi to a night of Champaran-style mutton curry and rice and roti in celebration of the Gandhi scion’s escape from the abyss. The mutton was cooked by Lalu himself at Lalu’s MP daughter Misa Bharti’s home in Delhi.

Lalu Prasad Yadav has sworn to oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi come 2024 and replace him with the young and energetic Rahul Gandhi. The Bihar strongman, who himself couldn’t escape conviction, appeared quite happy that Rahul Gandhi had got relief from the Supreme Court, which did not think twice before issuing the Congress leader a clean verdict, clearing Rahul Gandhi’s route to 7, Lok Kalyan Marg!

Remember Rahul Gandhi had to leave his government allotted bungalow following his disqualification from the Lok Sabha and random Congress leaders had been commenting that the next government bungalow Rahul Gandhi would step into will be the Prime Minister’s residence! If and when that happens, Lalu Prasad and daughter Misa Bharati would be among the first ones to get an invite for dinner with the new Prime Minister!

So, Gehlot’s call has its importance. It shows how close the Gandhi family was from losing its destiny and legacy. Without the Supreme Court correcting the records, the conviction and disqualification of Rahul Gandhi would have remained to haunt the Congress and its talisman – the Nehru-Gandhi family, the emerald in the Congress crown! Rahul Gandhi is once again qualified to become the Prime Minister of India. The ball is now in I.N.D.I.A’s court. Will the Opposition alliance choose Rahul Gandhi as I.N.D.I.A’s ‘PM-face’? (IPA Service)