The image of the India’s oldest political party is declining. The truth of the Congress party’s plight lies out away from Jan path in New Delhi. The party structure in the J & K State's non-existent or on the verge of collapse. Even in the States where it rules, its organization lies in ruins, consumed by factional feuds and very little to inspire confidence among the people or even among rank and file party workers. From North east to Gujarat from Jammu and Kashmir to Kerala from Maharashtra to Andhra, let alone Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Orissa, which the party has virtually given up on, the Congress, is on a downslide. Ironically both in Andhra and Maharashra, where the Congress is ruling, the party appears to be set on a suicidal course.

Evidently, Sonia Gandhi seems always to be working on strategies, not concerning the future of the party in the State, but which of the prospective replacements can be trusted by the dynasty.  One would have expected the party headquarters to solve the Maharashtra puzzle in a manner that would in the short and long run help strengthen the party there. In the end though it may find itself playing second fiddle to partner Sharad Pawar’s NCP or the Opposition benches as a future Shiv Sena BJP Government takes over.

Its performance as the ruling party and its future prospects are indeed bleak in Andhra as well. Chief Minister YSR Reddy has refused to grow into anything more than a faction leader. In Tamilnadu the party has learnt to live by hanging on to the coat tails of the regional parties. In Kerala where the party had a reasonably strong organizational base it stands as divided as never before, even after the old man Karunakaran’s return to the fold. The desperate attempt by the party hierarchy to somewhat retrieve the lost ground in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan must for the present remain a distant dream. The party predictably has fallen back on the dynasty to help a recovery by investing one of its prime assets in the process which could be seen when Rahul Gandhi will be embarking on a countrywide yatra. It may perhaps not be a bad idea, but
what is the yatra expected to achieve in the absence of an organizational structure. One can be sure that the States where Congress is in power will spare little effort to make the yatra a spectacular success but how would that help his party given that it has almost entirely lost its cadres.

The over-dependence on the dynasty from the days of Indira Gandhi has frankly resulted in the party withering from within, even as the political map of the country has virtually been rewritten. The party’s role, its pan-Indian vision and its belief that the country’s interests are intertwined with its own, has since been challenged by a broad mix of regional, caste and communal politics.