Indian National Congress, Inc.

We noted earlier that the Congress party is professionally managed, that the strategy and tactics, and even day-to-day affairs have been outsourced to a consulting group, perhaps. We said that it has a good risk and rewards program. The Congress party under Signora Sonia Gandhi is being run on the lines of any corporate business; that is not to say that the human factor is not taken into account. In fact, modern management gurus talk of emotional intelligence. David Goleman, in his path-breaking book, Emotional Intelligence, talks about the importance of emotional intelligence. Studies he reported say that in the ‘70s, people were depending on co-workers for getting their work done in about 16% of the time. In the ‘90s, the percentage grew to 77%. Management gurus are abreast of the work on emotional intelligence and they no longer function as inhuman entities: they are well aware of the human factors.

In this context, from what little I know of management (as one who failed to climb the management ladder over a decade and a half), there are three major aspects to growth in any organization: loyalty, competence, and performance – not necessarily in that order, and with equal weight to all three. How long you have been in the organization is an important aspect. (I failed miserably on that front, having switched jobs every year or year and a half, sometimes even within six months. That is why I never became a manager in 14 years!) The Congress party has always rewarded loyalty to the dynasty, often leading to sycophancy. Now it is loyalty to the party, or longevity. Not necessarily craven submission to the High Command.
Equally important is competence for the job – in the party or in the government.

Competence is the ability to do things; it is a combination of intelligence and communication skills. It is quite different from performance: how well one is doing the job one is currently entrusted with (the diligence with which one is approaching the job) is performance. As we said, all three are required, and in equal measure. Perhaps 33% each: 1% is left to chance, or luck. Or, being in the right place at the right time.

In the corporate world, one need to be popular with the co-workers (working with other people within the organization is critical to one’s ability to do one’s job), but not with people at large. So also with the Congress party. One’s popularity in the masses or the ability to ‘mobilize’ people in large numbers (like Y S Jagan’s camp followers are doing now) is of no great importance. People in Jagan’s camp who say that the High Command is not paying attention to the wishes of the people will do well to realize that Madame knows ‘everything’ through confidential reports prepared by professional psephologists, and Gallup polls conducted quite openly by career beaurocrats. She is not one to fall for banner headlines in Sakshi or some other rag, or live coverage of the 100-car cavalcades on individually owned TV channels. This is exactly the kind of fuss that Mrs Gandhi Jr told him to avoid.
Whatever popularity is to be had should vest in the dynasty, in the magical surname Gandhi.

Take the case of the incumbent CM of Andhra Pradesh, Mr K Rosaiah: he has been around in the Congress perhaps even before Jagan was born; he is competent and he has performed very well over the years. Unfortunately, he is unable to handle Jagan: owing to his gentlemanly manner or feeble-mindedness. With pressure building up from the Jagan camp, the High Command may be looking for alternatives, of course after the bypolls. Among the names doing the rounds are those of Speaker Kiran Kumar Reddy and minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy. The former is from Rayala Seema and the latter, from Andhra, and as such, they are not hot favourites.

Of the other two, Mrs Sabita Reddy, unfortunately, is not fluent in Hindi or English. We said that in corporate India (or the Indian National Congress, INC), or any corporate organization in the world, competence is a combination of intelligence and communication skills. That is where the other contender, Dr J Geetha Reddy scores over Mrs Sabita Reddy. She is the spokesperson of the AP Cabinet, and is fluent in Hindi and English. Moreover, lately, Mrs Sabita Reddy also made noises about Jagan being the leader of the future, even after he defied the High Command’s diktat. She doesn’t seem to be familiar with the history of the Indira Congress (now called Indian National Congress): anyone who defies the High Command’s diktat is “out”.

Bottomline: Do we need to say more? It is going to be Dr J Geetha Reddy; just remember that you have read it here first.