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So, it was the Political class that was divided, unsure and circumspect. The people of India were one in what they wanted out of Elections 2009. Little surprise then that even the Congress’s poll managers, from Sonia Gandhi downwards, received the outcome with disbelief.

The  party  had  given  itself a minimum of 153 seats in the new House. Its breakup  for  individual states was: Andhra 18, UP 11, Madhya Pradesh four, Rajasthan 12, Kerala eigth, Haryana eight, Delhi five and Uttarakhand one. In  all  these and many other states, the Congress performed way beyond its own  expectations  to  notch  up  205  seats. In Andhra, Chief Minister YS Rajsekhara Reddy delivered on his promise of 30-plus by returning 32; in UP the Rahul Gandhi magic and the strategy to field new faces helped the party walk  away  with  21  seats and in MP a faction-ridden Congress mopped up a tally  of  12.  In Delhi it won in all seven constituencies and in Rajasthan it  got seven additional seats. Kerala gave it five more than the projected eight.

The best surprise was the BJP-ruled Uttarakhand, a hill district carved out of  UP,  where  the  Congress  pocketed all five parliamentary seats. Chief Minister  Maj.  Gen.  (retd)  B C Khanduri’s image among the people and his party  colleagues  is  as  badly  mauled  as   Musharraf’s in Pakistan. His critics say he runs the government the way a general runs his corps. Does  Lalu  Yadav  and  Ram  Vilas Paswan’s decimation in Bihar, Mayawati’s decline  in UP, Chandrababu’s stagnation in Andhra and the Left’s defeat in West  Bengal  and  Kerala  mean  the  country  has started moving towards a bipolar polity? Certain regional parties like the DMK, JD (U) and Trinamool have done well. But is it curtains in the near future for regional entities feeding on parochial and caste allegiances?

Looks like, but it isn’t an easy way forward. The party will have to become what  it  originally  was—  an  implicit  coalition  of  ideas and social identities.  Pandit  Nehru  ran  it  that way and Rahul, his great grandson wants  to  mould  himself  after  the great man. The loss of political work culture  of  yore  has  cost  the politician his image and parties like the Congress their social base and standing among the masses.

I  am  not  for a moment suggesting that Rahul is the latter day Nehru. But who  knows  what destiny has in store for him? When he praised Nitish Kumar and  Naidu  for  the good work they did, he reminded me of a story narrated some years ago by a former House Keeper at Teen Murti House when it was the PM’s  official  residence.  Panditji  never got along with G B Pant. But he could  keep  their  differences  from  coming  in the way of their personal relationship.

Upon  inviting Pantji for dinner one night along with some other guests, he told  the  House  Keeper  to  ensure  the UP strongman was served soup in a special bowl so that it did not spill because of Pantji’s tremulous grip of it. The old man had a tremor in his hands. The lady also told me that among the  top  leaders  inconsolable after Nehru’s death was a young Atal Bihari Vajpayee,  whom  the  late  PM  patronised  for  the promise he showed as a parliamentarian and a formidable critic of his government.

That  eye  for  talent,  that sense of caring is simply not there among our politicians  these  days.  For  that  reason  alone, if Rahul retains his simplicity, his unmistakable innocence and regard for adversaries, he’d set a trend others will find difficult to resist.

Composition of the 15th Lok Sabha

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