395 REFRESHING APPROACH: The party has been supportive of Rahul Gandhiâs way of engaging the NDA govt on handling the pandemic, but he remains a reluctant leader. PTI Rasheed Kidwai Senior Journalist and Author Just as speculation was rife over a possible split in the grand old party around May 2 when the Assembly results of four states and one UT will be announced, the Congress seems joining ranks at all levels of the party hierarchy and accepting Rahul Gandhi as its leader. The reliance on Rahul is coming amid a rather grim scenario which has little to do with politics. The enormity of Covid-19 pandemic or its second brutal wave has shaken everyone to the core. The government of the day may not say it officially but the health emergency has put the Indian nation at war. As former Army chief General Ved Prakash Malik said rather dishearteningly in his April 18 tweet, “Our nation is at war. 1,338 Indians died due to the pandemic yesterday (1,182 the day before), more than 2.5 times the total killed in action in Kargil war. Is the nation focused on this war?”