The year the dynasty declined

Within a few days of the humiliating whitewash in four state assembly elections, the Congress party sat up, dusted itself and launched a carefully orchestrated campaign moulded around Rahul Gandhi for the passage of the Lokpal Bill. The popular sense was that, once again, the country’s oldest party was merely reacting to exigent circumstances: one, to divert attention from a stinging defeat just months before the next general election; two, to stave off another wrenching face-off with social activist Anna Hazare, who had launched a fresh hunger strike for the passage of the Bill.

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