Since the Congress was wiped out in the Lok Sabha elections in May, when its tally came down from 206 in 2009 to just 44, the party's demoralised rank and file have been anxiously waiting for the top leadership, including party chief Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, to break their silence and show them the right direction.
"I am nervous...the drift in the party continues," said a senior AICC functionary on the condition of anonymity when asked how he perceives the prevailing mood in the party.
"There seems to be no impact of the recent election losses in Haryana and Maharashtra," he added.
Reacting to his strong remarks, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said: "It is not right to slice and dissect individual words out of context. An overall holistic view shows that Chidambaram was intending to and did speak in a constructive spirit and not in a negative manner. These are obviously his own views."
Congress leader Rashid Alvi said the party is a democratic organisation whose president is elected by AICC members. "Sonia Gandhi is our president and Rahul Gandhi our vice president. Nobody knows the future but the entire party is behind the two," he said.
"Chidambaram has given many suggestions. He is a senior leader and it would have been better if he had spoken in a party forum," he added.
But many in the Congress often refer to Sonia's words in May, when she said "big-time changes" were needed to reboot the party.
Over the past few months, the expected dates for the change have been regularly postponed and there is no party reshuffle likely in the coming weeks.
The reasons differ, depending on how different party leaders look at the situation.
While a section of leaders said there is a need for sweeping changes now and the exercise could be undertaken in a phased manner, others point out that the Congress' state units are busy with a membership drive which ends on December 31. Also, the entire party machinery will soon get busy with the organisational elections which start from January 2015 and will continue till around October next year.
Coming back to the role of the leadership, while some in the Congress blame an indecisive leadership for the drift, others are of the opinion that the Congress is like an elephant which will move at its own pace.
"This is a big party...things don't happen at the speed people want us to do them. We will review plans and move with caution," said a senior leader.
Besides the issue of leadership, the loss of Congress governments in rich and progressive states like Maharashtra and Haryana, which contributed to the AICC coffers, have added to the party's woes.
Sources said with the Congress in the Opposition, there will certainly be a financial strain on the party. An indication of things had come when the Congress tightened its purses during the Lok Sabha polls and also during the recent Assembly elections.
The sources added that in many cases during the Maharashtra and Haryana polls, the candidates did not get enough support from the AICC. Others even said the party withheld money as it did not expect good results in these two states.
Sources said among the states where the Congress rules, Karnataka is the only big state but resources will run thin in the Grand Old Party as it prepares to play the role of Opposition till the next general election in 2019.
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