Sonia Gandhi is the current leader of the Congress party and the opposition alliance. It has been reported that parties opposing the BJP are debating whether Sonia Gandhi should be replaced by Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar as the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). Although the NCP chief has denied this, the debate and speculations still lingers on.
These reports and speculations is said to have angered Sonia Gandhi who is currently grappling with old age and its associated ailments.
Recently, Sharad Pawar in an interview said that Rahul Gandhi lacked consistency. This apparently did not go down well with Sonia Gandhi. Post this, there were also talks of NCP merging with the Congress and Pawar becoming the Congress chief. Although, the NCP chief has put an end to it saying that it was fake news, the Congress leaders suspect that Pawar himself could have spread rumours in order to apply pressure on the Congress.
It is to be noted that Rahul Gandhi has refused to run for the post of Congress leader but Sonia is said to be adamant that her son should be made the leader. In this context, Pawar’s remarks have caused confusion in Congress.
Many leaders in the opposition parties as well as in political pundits are of the opinion that it is high time Sonia Gandhi passes on the baton to someone else. They say that she should not be burdened with too much work as she is ill. Her indecisiveness owing to her old age and illness is apparently having a toll on the Congress, its leaders and opposition parties as well. Even before her illness, she had lost her touch of keeping allies in good books and leading a coalition decisively.
It is in light of this that the need for a credible opposition leader has arisen.