As exodus continues, is clueless Congress high command losing political plot?

New Delhi: Over the past couple of days, Congress has lost several leaders including boxer Vijender Singh, spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh and former Mumbai chief Sanjay Nirupam. And with every such loss, only one thing seems to have been established beyond doubt that the Clueless Congress high command is seemingly losing the political plot, big time, ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

With the Bharatiya Janata Party in top gear and unrelenting in its aim to achieve the targeted “ab ki baar 400 paar” seats in Lok Sabha polls, it seems that the Congress is not even likely to find these many candidates to enter the electoral fray.

With every such jolt to the Congress, be it boxer Vijender Singh's move to join the saffron ranks or Gaurav Vallabh’s letter, these have been major causes of embarrassment for the high command of the grand old party.

The move by Singh was likely due to a delay in the announcement of his candidature for the Lok Sabha polls and came as a complete surprise for the grand old party’s top leadership.

It is believed that Singh was speaking to the senior leadership of the Congress regarding his possible candidate from Mathura even hours ahead of making his saffron move.

He was one of the strongest supporters of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and this is being considered as a blow to the Congress’ first family.

The letter by Vallabh too comes at a time when Congress is trying hard to shed its anti-Hindu image.

Interestingly, these recent desertions aren’t like the earlier ones, wherein high-profile leaders like Ravneet Bittu, Milind Deora, Jitin Prasada, RPN Singh or Jyotiraditya Scindia had been targeted by the opposing camp due to their political lineage. The current exodus of leaders indicates that even the Congress leadership which is fighting the opposing ideology on the streets and on television debates is now leaving the grand old party.

The repeated desertions by leaders expose the rot within the Congress’ structure, that there seems to be only one-way communication and many of these leaders only left because no one was available to listen to their grievances, sources said.

The refrain amongst party leaders is that the Congress high command is cut off from reality and isn’t willing to give proper respect to the middle-ranking leaders engaged in a constant battle for the survival of the party.

Every such loss of leaders is a body blow to the Congress’ political cause as it tries to show a brave face ahead of the crucial general elections.

If the Congress wants to reemerge as a serious political player and regain lost ground across the country, the party’s high command needs to rethink its political strategy.

The exodus can only be stopped if the top leadership of the grand old party engages with its political functionaries in a way that they feel valued. Unless the Congress is able to plug this mass departure it can say goodbye to any hopes of defeating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and returning to power at the Centre in the forthcoming weeks, or years.