The Rahul Reboot
In the run-up to the assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, former chief minister Ajit Jogi had a one-to-one meeting with Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Jogi, a former CongrÂessman, was keen on returning to the fold and told Rahul: "You let me know how many seats you want to win. I will deliver. But I must have full authority to select candidates." Rahul kept quiet for a while, took a deep breath and told Jogi with a smile: "I respect you a lot. But I'm afraid I will not be able join hands with you. I have to stand by my workers."
Several political pundits, in and outside the party, had suggested that keeping Jogi out of the Congress coalition could be suicidal for the party as the latter had considerable influence on Scheduled Caste votes. When Jogi later formed a coalition with Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, there was almost a consensus that the Congress was yielding to the competition by allowing
