The past 48 hours showed how the Congress has botched up what could have been its moment.

They allowed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to get a headstart, making the entire issue of a casteist remark by the Congress.

The BJP unleashed top ministers who accused Rahul Gandhi of abusing the Other Backward Class (OBC) community. The Congress had only its president, a Dalit himself, to trash this narrative.

But let’s begin with the moments after the verdict came from Surat court on Thursday.

A senior lawyer Congress MP told News18: “The party should have been alerted the day the high court had vacated the stay on this issue. They should have moved the sessions court immediately, but no such attention was paid and the team was back in Delhi. The Congress was again left confused on whether to make the conviction the main issue to attack the BJP. Which it did. But soon the wisdom dawned that this would be seen as taking on courts at a time when they would approach the higher courts for relief.”

Also came the realisation that not all opposition parties, even those who have been with the Congress so far on the Adani issue, would want to support this court issue.

Hence when the Opposition parties met on Friday morning, the issue was not so much the conviction but Adani and Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe. But the Congress could not let go of Gandhi and so it mixed it with misuse of institutions and made a veiled reference to the Surat court issue.

THE MORNING MEETING

But the real botching seemed to come at the morning meeting at Sonia Gandhi’s office, in which Gandhi was present. At the meeting, few leaders suggested that the Congress must pre-empt disqualification and write to the president. But two senior MPs, one who was legally inclined, said that the disqualification would take time as he has 30 days to appeal. It was a bolt from the blue when the speaker’s office issued notification for disqualification.

ALSO READ | Rahul Gandhi Disqualified as MP: What are His Legal Team’s Arguments and the 2024 Question

It was at the hurriedly called press conference that the party tried to do damage control.

It’s a long legal battle. Protests are planned without attacking the judiciary.

The party now has taken a cue from Gandhi, when he tweeted to say he was ready to give up anything for the sake of truth.

The real fighter and asli challenger is the pitch of the Congress for 2024 with Gandhi being the epicentre. But will he alone be the hand which pulls the Congress to victory in 2024?

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