"There is simmering discontent in the party. And it’s not just Rajasthan,” said former Congress spokesman Sanjay Jha just before he was suspended from primary membership of the party on Tuesday evening. The suspension came soon after he had appeared on an NDTV current affairs programme in which he sounded off about the way the party is being run.

In many ways Jha’s suspension was hardly a surprise because he has been letting rip about the party’s failings and was sacked as the party spokesman after writing a scathing blog in the Times of India on the weekend slamming the party leadership.

“There is one school of thought (in the party) that by some miraculous heavenly intervention and anti-incumbency we will suddenly win in 2024,” Jha told The Telegraph Online on Tuesday. “You are up against a resourceful, hungry and very ambitious team. Since 2014 you have not been able to fathom Mr Modi and Shah. This is a much more aggressive political animal.”

In the Times blog, he said having Covid-19 earlier this month had given him ample time to think. He said he had realised “the Congress has demonstrated extraordinary lassitude, and its lackadaisical attitude towards its own political obsolescence is baffling to say the least… there has been no serious effort to get the party up and running with any sense of urgency. There are many in the party who cannot comprehend this perceptible listlessness.”

Sanjay Jha File picture

Throwing in an attack on the BJP, he added: “It is dismaying to see its (the Congress Party’s) painful disintegration. It does not make sense, especially given the fact that the current regime appears clueless in even elementary governance.”

Though Jha has never held an elected post in the Congress Party or in Parliament, he has become a high-profile figure because of his regular media appearances. He has been a party spokesperson since 2013 and has also written frequent articles for print and online sites. After a bout of Covid-19, he wrote a blog earlier this month strongly criticising the party leadership and he was sacked as national spokesperson shortly afterwards. He has continued to be openly critical of the party which has finally suspended him from primary membership.

Jha has kept up a hectic schedule even after being sacked as party spokesman. Speaking to The Telegraph Online, he turned both barrels on the top leaders. “I think the Congress Party is demonstrating a lack of political intelligence. When you have two senior leaders (Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot), the job of the leadership is to find a long-term sustainable solution.” He added: “This is committing political suicide. The Congress is in self-destruct mode.”

Privately, many top Congress leaders agree wholeheartedly with Jha. Even senior leaders like Kapil Sibal, Shashi Tharoor and Abhishek Singhvi have hinted that the party is heading in the wrong direction.

“Worried for our party. Will we wake up only after the horses have bolted from our stables,” tweeted Congress leader Kapil Sibal. Singhvi added that he had always been Pilot’s close friend.

“The Congress allowed Karnataka to go into BJP hands,” says Jha, adding: “You won Madhya Pradesh after 15 years. You could not manage one. In my opinion the Congress pushed him (Jyotiraditya Scindia) out. Why was he allowed to go? The Congress president should have tried to sort it out.”

Jha said the Congress had lost the Lok Sabha elections but that it still had to fight for its political life. “I have the option of fighting state elections robustly. But the Congress Central leadership virtually washed its hands of Maharashtra. I know Congress workers who came to me in Maharashtra. They said the mothership has abandoned us. Across the rank-and-file there is dismay and anger combined.”

The former spokesman also argued strongly for internal party freedom and said it was important to throw open party elections and allow anyone to stand. “We are throwing open the doors. Please apply for Congress president. And give the president a free hand.”

He added Sonia had been the party president for an unprecedented 19 years and then handed the job over to Rahul. When Rahul quit last August, Sonia had once again taken charge as interim president. “I don’t want a Gandhi to be leader but we still have an interim president. In addition, Jha suggested there should be a possible time limit of three years for a person holding the party presidency.

“We’re willing to move forward without a Gandhi. The Gandhis have a role but not as captain of the ship. India is driven much more by merit.”

Besides that, he also suggested that the Congress should steal a march on the BJP and bring itself under the Right to Information Act. That, he argued, would force the BJP to scrap electoral bonds.

Says Jha: “The BJP has the institutions completely under their control. They use fake news to change the headlines and are the masters of hyperbole. The Congress is battling strong headwinds.”