A circus of sorts

Whatever credibility Congress President Rahul Gandhi is building, his party leaders are demolishing the next day. Congress leaders are forgetting that one wrong word can change the whole narrative in the election year. Mani Shanker Aiyer questioned in a seminar, “Raja Dashrath was a big king, his palace had 10,000 rooms. Lord Ram was born in which room, nobody knows, then how one can say Mandir will be built there only”. This statement does not go well with Rahul Gandhi establishing himself as Kashmiri Pandit in Pushkar, Rajasthan.

In 2014 too, Aiyer’s one statement changed the narrative of the election when he said, “I give my word, Modi will never be the PM. If he wants to sell tea (in AICC meet), we can arrange for it”. To make matters worse, Aiyer is not alone. Gandhi is attacking industrialist Anil Ambani on the Rafale issue, but senior leader and advocate Kapil Sibal is defending Anil Ambani in the Supreme Court where Ericsson filed a case to arrest the younger Ambani brother to recover its dues. The Congress has another intelligent advocate, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented Nestle, the producer of Maggi noodle in the case against it in the Supreme Court. Singhvi admitted to the presence of lead in the noodles but said in the court that it was below permissible limit. “Why should we be eating Maggi with lead in it?” Justice Chandrachud had asked Singhvi. Then there is the hardworking Delhi Congress President Ajay Maken who recently resigned. Insiders say he was opposed to a possible alliance with AAP. Sheila Dikshit is also opposed to the move. But there are some in the Congress who want an alliance by all means.

On this, one senior leader said that if the Congress and AAP align in Delhi, the result will be like the one in Telengana where both will be wiped out. But who cares in this circus!