It''s perhaps ironic, but hardly surprising, then that Sonia''s stock in the party has begun to falter just as she''s become better at her job. But Congressmen don''t usually judge their leaders on merit. She has even begun to address, after a period of confusion, the party''s drift towards a softer shade of saffron. To be sure, Sonia has done rather better than most gave her credit for — keeping the party together when disintegration was a distinct possibility, taking the first steps towards a federalist organisational culture, that has reduced arbitrary interference from the top. It''s just that things haven''t gone to plan since then. But in the mind of the Congress worker it was destiny that made Sonia party president. In 1984, as the news of Indira''s assassination came through, the question on every Congressman''s lip was: "Will he?" In 1991, as the party woke up to life after Rajiv, the question was: "Will she?" Call it dynasty, if you like. Nor a political beast, parti-cularly one that''s 118 years old, a new political imagination. In a fractured polity, personal magic cannot replace sound strategy.You can''t teach an old dog new tricks.
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