When Narendra Modi rammed into the country’s federal politics in 2014, Congress was ruling in nine states. Next time, Modi makes a bid for the new Central Vista PMO, Congressmen fear the party might not be in power in any state.

With Punjab gone, and its hopes in Uttarakhand and Manipur dashed, the party’s footprint has already shrunk to Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and both states will be going to hustings next year.

The Congress is staring at a crisis of credibility and leadership, the standard lines about re-inventing the party have become boring, a sense of despair is looming large and an internal upheaval might even split the party.

Watch this debate (click video) where senior journalist SP Singh engages political scientists Prof Ashutosh Kumar and Prof Mohd Khalid, both from Panjab University, Chandigarh, about the State of the Congress.

The likes of Ramachandra Guha are now declaring from the rooftops that Gandhis will pull the Congress down, and the party must get rid of them. An opposing line of argument says Gandhis are the only glue the party has, and without them, there will be no Congress.

Ghulam Nabi Azad has said “my heart is bleeding.” Shashi Tharoor is repeating his call for leadership reform the umpteenth time. A bold experiment like Navjot Sidhu and Charanjit Singh Channi has failed miserably, and Priyanka Gandhi’s 209 rallies and roadshows in Uttar Pradesh haven’t helped at all.

With the AAP, which decimated it in Punjab, now threatening to take over its space in Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and many other places, the party is in an existential crisis. After 137 years, will it ever again be a force to reckon with?

Calls for Gandhis to call it a day are growing louder. Small time chieftains are now feeling emboldened enough to question the first family whose ability to command and control is under serious doubt.

With just 56 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 34 in the Rajya Sabha, and serious doubts about ability of Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka as vote catchers, will Congress be able to overcome the sense of hopelessness? And will it do so by getting ridding of the Gandhis, or by falling back upon them?