Rahul Gandhi's big experiment in party democracy—US-style primaries completes

NEW DELHI: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s big experiment in party democracy—US-style primaries— has been completed. Sixteen constituencies chose their candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections through an electoral college.

Though it was the first time that the party was “opening” up the process of selecting a candidate, there were few takers for the experiment. Not only were there few takers, over the last couple of days several senior leaders have announced their desire to sit out the 2014 elections.

Shipping minister GK Vasan announced that he wouldn’t be contesting, senior leaders like CP Joshi and former Tamil Nadu PCC K V Thangkabalu have said they don’t plan to contest.

Several ministers have indicated that they would prefer the Rajya Sabha route, like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or defence minister AK Antony. Sources indicated that finance minister P Chidambaram would be brought in through the Rajya Sabha amidst reports that he wanted the party to field his son Karti from his parliamentary constituency, Sivaganga in TN.

Commerce minister Anand Sharma attempted to dampen reports on Chidambaram and his son, citing the example of BJP leader and former FM Yashwant Sinha. The BJP leader’s son, Jayant, is contesting from Hazaribagh, a seat currently held by Yashwant Sinha.

“I meet him (Chidambaram) regularly. He has not commented on it. I am not privy to any such thing. I am also not in Central Election Committee. But people do take these decisions in all political parties. There are people in all parties, who make way for the next generation. In the BJP also, some senior leaders have taken the decision,” Sharma said, referring to the speculation about the finance minister.

While the tally of senior leaders giving 2014 polls a pass went up, the commerce minister attempted to proffer an explanation, “there may be seniors, who feel that let the space be created for young leaders. This should not be seen as some crisis.”

The expectation that a large number of party workers and functionaries would participate in this open contest was misplaced. Barring Guwahati and Sant Kabir Nagar, which have seven and eight candidates, respectively, the number of people taking a chance has been less than enthusiastic.