With the rout in the year-end assembly elections, Congress has been left looking at the bottom of the barrel ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, with Narendra Modi breathing down its neck.
It was all bouquets for Rahul Gandhi at the beginning of the year when he was made the Congress Vice President at the Jaipur Chintan Shivir but there is nothing much to show for him as 2013 comes to a close.
The party now has to decide whether to project him as its prime ministerial candidate when the AICC meets in more than a fortnight.
The debacle in Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh has thrown up questions over Rahul's ability to rally the party for a hat-trick in the parliamentary elections with his mother and party chief Sonia Gandhi virtually taking a backseat in the day-to-day affairs of the organisation.
While Rahul has now hinted changes beyond imagination in the party and its working, suggestions that Sonia Gandhi will again take the lead in the organisation have started gradually gaining ground with a do-or-die battle looming ahead.
An AICC restructuring is on the cards sooner than later and an AICC meeting is scheduled here on January 17 which is expected to give a glimpse of the party strategy for facing the Lok Sabha polls just a few months away.
Congress is in power as head of the UPA coalition for ten years since May 2004.
With several leaders rooting for him as the "natural choice" to lead the party in the polls, the meet is being held amid speculation that Rahul could be declared the prime ministerial candidate by the party.
Sonia Gandhi has said that the party would decide its PM candidate at an opportune time.
The year gone by also saw the party storming back to power in Karnataka after seven years in what was seen as an anti-BJP vote due to the controversial rule of B S Yeddyurappa marked by allegations graft and nepotism.
Congress succeeded in getting the Food Security Bill as also the Land Acquisition Bill passed in Parliament amid projections of the two schemes as the game changers for the organisation in the Lok Sabha polls.
At the fag end of the year, the ruling party also succeeded in getting the Lokpal Bill passed with the help of the main opposition BJP in the backdrop of both the major parties suffering a setback with the emergence of Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi.
AAP, led by Arvind Kejriwal, has formed government in the national capital with Congress' support. The emergence of the nascent party has come as a morale booster for several regional parties.
What is worrying for the Congress as it prepares for the Lok Sabha polls is the extent of loss it suffered in the just concluded Assembly polls in states like Delhi and Rajasthan.
After 15 years in power in Delhi under the leadership of Shiela Dikshit, the party was suddenly reduced to an 'also ran' status with just eight seats in the 70–member Assembly, down from 43. This was despite the fact that it had claimed that Dikshit era had led to unprecedented development in the national capital.
The result showed not only intense infighting in the party, but also the failure of the leadership to gauge the mood of the people in the backdrop of an atmosphere of scams and scandals, anger against the price rise and the December 16 gangrape incident last year.
In neighbouring Rajasthan, the party not only lost power but was routed so badly that it came up with the worst ever performance winning just 21 seats in a House of 200. Even in the Assembly polls held after the Emergency in the mid-70s, the party had secured 40 odd seats.
So stunned was the party that Ashok Gehlot, who led the campaign as the Chief Minister, said he had no words as there was no-anti incumbency against his government and the party.
He claimed the reason could be mainly the "Goebellisian" tactics of Modi to spread communal agenda.
"Narendra Modi's thoughts are a threat to Indian democracy," Gehlot declared as the party was grappling on how to tackle the challenge posed by the Gujarat strongman.
The challenge before the party could be gauged from the fact that Modi is known as the "most polarising" politician in India and abroad in the wake of the Gujarat riots of 2002.
Besides, he has emerged as the most aggressive campaigner in recent times when questions are being raised about the way Rahul Gandhi canvasses.
Despite bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh being a ticklish issue, Congress took decisive steps for the formation of a separate Telangana amid hopes that the new state could be a reality in the New Year.
What Next in 2014?
New Year is a time for decisive decisions. We access the resolutions of India’s most important figures.
Arvind Kejriwal: To introduce a new portfolio called the Ministry of Gimmicks, which will be held by himself. Javed Akhtar will be made the Minister of Music who will write lyrics for AAP. Every cabinet meeting will start with the song Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam sung by the chief minister.
To hold antakshari with Congress MLAs which will start with Tere mere beech mein, kaisa hai ye bandhan. The winner will get a basket of mangoes and a broom. To reach work, will only travel by the Metro daily, but in a special train reserved exclusively for the CM and his cabinet. No red beacons will be put on top of the compartments.
Volunteers will sweep the station with brooms where Kejri will alight. To buy a new broom each day to sweep his office and the corridors of power. Give sanction for AAP to buy thousands of candles since all power bills will be torn up and electricity connections will be disconnected. In addition to 700 litres of free water, 400 bottles of Pepsi will be provided free to the poor because AAP’s slogan for 2014 will be ‘Dil Maange More!’
Ramlila will be celebrated only at Delhi Secretariat, since Ramlila Maidan will be the only venue where cabinet decisions would be taken. All AAP members will have to sleep in tents in Ramlila Maidan, since they will be asked to support their families from outside. All Delhi government officials will be ordered to take off their clothes in the office to ensure transparency in governance.
According to a new clause in the Jan Lokpal Bill, free whistles would be provided for all honest officials who sends him SMSes. Reservation for journalists in politics to join AAP. Ghaziabad to get special status. To build a road from Ramlila Maidan to Race Course Road without speed breakers.
Anna Hazare: Will go on fast to go on more fasts. To sue Kejri for stealing his cap-maker.
Sheila Dikshit: To oppose AAP from inside. To hold an unconditional swearing-at ceremony on Barapullah flyover against Kejri if he probes her previous decisions. To get Centre to pay for free power for all roads built during CWG. To agitate to give parole to all the children of politicians in Tihar Jail.
Manmohan Singh: Not known. He doesn’t talk.
Sonia Gandhi: To include in 2014 manifesto, a clause to pay food bills in all restaurants serving pasta and pizzas. To learn Telugu to speak in Parliament during the Telangana Bill debate next month.
Narendra Modi: To adopt all stray puppies on roads. Will project holograms of puppies all over the country to show how shaken he is by road accidents. To endeavour to get more hits on blogs than Advani.
L K Advani: To write more blogs than Narendra Modi. To break into tears at every public function while wringing his hands. To contest elections from Gujarat so that later he can prove his popularity and at least become CM of Gujarat if Modi becomes PM.
Rahul Gandhi: To wear Modi kurtas so that he doesn’t have to roll up his sleeves at meetings. To change very decision passed by both the Centre and state governments on the grounds that it’s all nonsense. To learn lessons from AAP by travelling by the Metro with Kejriwal and promising Sonu Nigam a Congress ticket from South Bombay if he teaches him to sing the song Kal ho na ho.
Mulayam Singh Yadav: To give Akhilesh up for adoption to Mayawati to defeat BSP in 2014.
Mayawati: To erect statues of herself and Ambedkar on Ramlila Maidan to wean Dalits away from AAP.
Digvijaya Singh: To erect statues of Rahul Gandhi everywhere.
Mamata Banerjee: To reshuffle her portfolios and hold painting exhibitions of her achievements showing people being arrested for Facebook posts.
M Karunanidhi: To become brand ambassador for Rayban after retiring from active politics.
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