The impressive show of Opposition unity in the monsoon session of Parliament followed by Friday’s successful meeting called by Sonia Gandhi have failed to dispel the gloom in a Congress grappling with organisational disarray.

Fear lurks that the much-awaited election of party president may be pushed further into 2022, allowing the few months left of the existing presidential term to run their course.

Leaders and workers feel that the absence of a full-fledged Congress president is not only holding back a revamp of the party but also affecting Opposition politics in the country.

Rahul Gandhi was elected Congress president in December 2017. The party constitution was amended to extend the president’s tenure from three years to five, and the next election is therefore due in 2022.

A senior party functionary told The Telegraph: “Nothing has been decided so far but there is an opinion that the election should be delayed by a few months and the new president elected to a five-year term in 2022.”

Confusion has persisted since the Congress Working Committee announced last year that the election of a new president — to fill the vacancy created by Rahul’s resignation in July 2019 following the rout in the general election — would be completed by the year-end.

That deadline was pushed back by six months because of Covid and the Assembly elections in states like Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

The general secretary in charge of the organisation, K.C. Venugopal, declared at a news conference on January 22 this year that “there will be an elected Congress president by June”. It’s August now, and speculation about the election being held in 2022 has already begun, lengthening the period of uncertainty in this critical phase for the party.

“Sonia Gandhi said at the meeting (of 19 Opposition parties on Friday) that the Congress will not be found wanting — the least we can do is to elect a leader,” a senior Congress politician said bitterly.

“The entire parliamentary session saw Rahul emerge as the leader of the Opposition. He created ripples by taking the tractor to Parliament, riding a bicycle and forcing the washout of a session over Pegasus. Suddenly he is pushed aside and Sonia calls the Opposition meeting. Leadership doesn’t work in a switch-on, switch-off mode.”

Another senior leader too rued the party’s tendency to procrastinate and failure to resolve contentious issues.

“We have been hearing about a reshuffle in Rajasthan for three months now. We were told chief minister Ashok Gehlot was not listening to the central leadership,” the leader said.

“Then came the tough decision in Punjab, where Navjot Singh Sidhu was installed (as state unit chief) against the wishes of chief minister Amarinder Singh. Now even Gehlot will be forced to fall in line. General secretary Ajay Maken went to Jaipur and returned with an agreed formula. Where is the reshuffle?”

A rejig in Rajasthan is crucial to accommodating Sachin Pilot in the high command structure.

Other critical decisions too are pending. Gujarat, which goes to the polls next year, has neither a state unit chief nor a general secretary in charge.

In Maharashtra, every senior leader and minister is sulking, unhappy at the choice of Nana Patole as state Congress president. Ditto in Delhi, where the entrenched forces have refused to accept the young Anil Chaudhary as their leader.

While the so-called “Group of 23” — now seen as enemies by the new loyalists — had raised questions about organisational weaknesses, many others too privately concede that more than two years have been wasted because of the absence of a functional head.

Many senior leaders and state ministers are unhappy at not being able to convey their feelings to the central leadership because Sonia and Rahul are practically inaccessible.

While Sonia has restricted her interactions because of Covid, Rahul says he has no authority to resolve issues and meets people selectively. With Rahul no longer party president, there’s no institutional arrangement for his interactions.

Even leaders of other Opposition parties have privately expressed shock and disbelief at the continuing paralysis in the Congress.