On the one hand, crucial decisions are taken in murky corridors for short-term gains without the least regard for the political consequences. On the other, even senior party functionaries, barring one or two, not to speak of the Congress MPs, are left out of the entire process. The latter have no forum to air their feelings or present problems. A Digvijay Singh, Jairam Ramesh or Mani Shankar Aiyar may occasionally pour out. Others lament so in private. Hence much of the UPA2's chaotic functioning can be attributed to its highly bureaucratic style where virtual power is vested in two or three persons at the top. Of all the governments in the past, the present one has the narrowest decision making range.

The whole strategy is to pick up what is called the 'unfinished agenda', push them in the cabinet for approval and quietly get them approved in Parliament, if possible without debate. The only hurdle in their way is the Sonia establishment which functions as the virtual opposition and the only watchdog. If an array of bills and official notifications - RTI amendment, food security bill, fishing bill, Bt. cotton approval, etc. - remain blocked, it was neither due to the public outcry nor lack of majority in Parliament. However, the Sonia establishment is interested in the safe landing of her own welfare schemes. This apart, her own party has a poor record of seeking wider debate within the party or taking collective decisions. The AICC rarely called, that too to endorse the earlier decisions and as a public relations exercise.

The Congress working committee, once a vibrant body, has lost its role as a panel rendering valuable advice to the party chief. The parliamentary party (CPP) was really functional under Rajiv Gandhi. Congress MPs used to express their views freely even if under a guided format. Media used to carry what the individual MPs said at such meetings. The MPs held special discussions on bills and put forth suggestions to counter the opposition. Now the CPP is called only for the party chief's customary address. In this budget session, even this was dispensed with. Thus the role of the party MPs has been reduced to mutely endorsing the government initiatives.

So where will the party MPs and senior functionaries, some of whom have spent a life time for the Congress movement, air their intense feelings? 'Core Group' remains the only functional body that seeks to coordinate between the PM wing and the party. But that is called only for crisis management, not to oversea or screen government initiatives. The Core Group itself has a narrow range with just five members in it - Dr. Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, Sonia Gandhi and her political secretary, and A.K. Antony. Chidambaram is sometimes called. During the Indira Gandhi era, Congress Parliamentary Board (CPB) was a lively body which in combination with the cabinet committee on political affairs used to screen all major bills before going to cabinet.

Media persons had to wait into midnight to have the CPB's views which was always final. Often meetings were to be put off for further consultation with state leaders. Such wider internal debates had enabled the party to avert situations like the Telengana fiasco and Baluch blunder. The joke among the Congress MPs is that the fixers and lobbyists have more access to the decision makers in government than its ministers and party MPs. The other day a minister who was with the Congress from the Sanjay days, told some old media friends that the only opportunity they get to express their views was when the papers come up before cabinet. As disciplined workers, they avoid being seen as odd guys at such coalition forum.

The scenario looks queer. While those grew up in Congress with excellent innings in party organization - like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ambica Soni and Jaipal Reddy - languish, the smart ones with politically correct tilt get all recognition. Those who oblige the lobbies and fixers get all praise. And those who stick to the traditional Congress mores get stuck up. That is the Congress tragedy. Unfortunately, the party seems to have not learnt lessons from the factors that had led to its erosion in '90s. It had taken six years for Sonia Gandhi to repair the damage. Yet last month witnessed the same kind of brinkmanship a la Narasimha Rao style. Unfortunately, sitting in a media-protected environ, rulers hardly see the swings in public mood.

Forget, for the time being, the ethical side of the misuse of the official machinery. That is a different issue altogether. For the Congress, the political cost of Mukherjee's deal with Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Yadav is going to be heavy. Mulayam is indeed playing a double game. He told a Left MP how he had 'trapped' the Congress in its own game. Whatever the truth, he has already succeeded in hurting the Congress president's stature on the issue of women's reservation bill. It was seen as her bill. And at great risk, she had personally forced the CPP managers to get it through the Rajya Sabha after the first day's fiasco. Clearly, the party managers did not show the same zeal in pushing the prestigious bill as they did in the case of the finance bill or nuclear liability bill. No amount of explanation can possibly justify this letdown of the party chief.

Look at the mess created by Mukherjee's impromptu announcement on caste census. A few days before this, the union cabinet had failed to take a decision on the knotty issue. Then just to appease the two Yadavs, Mukherjee suddenly declares its acceptance. It was done without consultation with the stakeholders in Congress and was a total surprise to the party functionaries and MPs. Ruling party leaders in affected states fear that the two Yadav leaders will certainly use it to harm the Congress.

Now the party is under pressure to extricate itself from Mukherjee's gambit. Pressure is building up on Mukherjee, and an early meeting to sort out the issue is expected. Even the media backers of the ruling alliance have assailed the census-for-vote deal, indicating the grave troubles ahead. State leaders fear that the caste census will unleash another Mandal tension with different caste groups making conflicting claims. (IPA Service)