It happens only in the Congress where leaders with proven capability and track record and who are valuable assets for the party, can be disposed off if that benefits the Gandhi troika, a.k.a as the ‘high command’. Many tall leaders of the Congress found themselves cut down to size as they were seen to be too big for their shoes. The latest casualty of the dynasty palace intrigue is Captain Amarinder Singh, the man who steered the Congress to power in Punjab in 2017 and also staved off fierce challenge from the Akali and BJP combine in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The Captain is of true noble blood and the tenth Maharaja of Patiala since 1971. He was a close friend of late Rajiv Gandhi at Doon School. However being what he is- in frankly speaking out about the inexperience and incompetence of Rahul in 2013 to lead the Congress, the Captain earned a powerful foe in the party. Rahul’s close aides wanted Amarinder to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha election against Arun Jaitley from Amritsar, the stronghold of Sidhu(then BJP). Amarinder refused but when Sonia personally requested, he had no option but to contest. He won handsomely against Jaitley but Congress won only three out of the 13 Lok Sabha seats. In 2015 when Rahul slighted Amarinder on several occasions,Sonia had to curtly remind her son that the Captain was a close friend of Rajiv. Even in the 2017 assembly elections, Rahul did not want Amarinder to lead the party and instead, rooted for Pratap Singh Bajwa but had to back down against popular demand. In 2019 Amarinder reportedly said that Rahul need not campaign in Punjab as he could handle the election for the Congress. In the 2019 Lok Sabha, the Congress under Amarinder won 8 seats (up from three), the SAD won 2, BJP also won 2, and AAP 1. In the latest Amarinder-Rahul/Priyanka tiff, the Gandhi siblings encouraged dissidence when they entertained the rebellious Navjyot Singh Sidhu and later also convened meetings of the Punjab MLAs in Delhi(not Punjab). This was open support to dissidence and ultimately when the MLAs got the message, it was time up for the Captain. What has happened in Punjab had also happened in other states- Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh where the party government fell due to wrong handling. Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh (where Congress is ruling) are also likely to face dissidence. According to analysts, the Gandhi siblings are focused in strengthening their unquestioned supremacy over the party and which means, detractors must fall in line or leave. They have a doting mother whose only desire is to hand over the baton of the party to her children and allow them to create their own durbar system. The Congress in Punjab was moving along fine under Amarinder but somehow, the Gandhi siblings appear to have snatched defeat from the jaws of what looked like a sure shot victory in the 2022 Punjab election. At a time when it called for tactful handling of the Punjab crisis, the Gandhi siblings have only exposed their immaturity in openly humiliating their own chief minister like Amarinder, who is among the tallest leaders of the party. This is going to backfire as the Captain is not one to take such treatment lying down. The way the Congress is imploding from within, it does not need rocket science to know that the Gandhis are pushing their family party into an inglorious and ignominious extinction.