Raga a good luck charm?
Earlier on, in his avatar as Congress vice president it seemed as if Rahul Gandhi could do little right as he lost election after election for the Congress. But ever since he has become the Congress president, his party leaders claim that his ascension has brought good luck for the Congress. For one, while the Congress lost Gujarat the takeaway is that the Congress put up a good fight. Then came the 2G verdict exonerating the UPA and with it taking away the corruption taint that had hovered over the UPA government. Then the Mumbai High Court set aside the sanction granted to the Central Bureau of Investigation by Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao to prosecute senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh housing society scam. On the NewsX-The Sunday Guardian Round Table, Congress spokesperson R.P.N. Singh claimed that Rahul Gandhi as Congress president has certainly been lucky for the party and it’s a feeling other Congress leaders are taking with them to the year 2018.
Read Between the Lines
DMK leader A. Raja, who has recently been given a clean chit in the lower court, is all set to publish his memoirs on the same. His book titled 2G Saga Unfolds will be launched in January next year but orders have already been placed. Sources say that the book will be critical of both the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. So the Congress had better wait before they start celebrating the 2G verdict. On another note, is this another sign of the DMK moving closer to the ruling NDA? Don’t forget the Modi-Karunanidhi meeting that took place recently. Watch this space for more.
The Ministry of Last Word
Trust Smirit Irani to have the last word. On the day of the Gujarat-Himachal election results, the I&B Minister was fielded on the TV channels by the BJP. When TV anchors tried to get her to admit that the Congress had fared better than expected, she simply smiled and then pointed out that while Rahul Gandhi went from one temple to the other, the Gods had bestowed their blessings on Amit Shah and PM Modi. As for Rahul’s infamous youth card, she stated that while Rahul was touching 50, she was “barely off 40”. Clearly, the feisty Irani is getting ready to take on Rahul in Amethi once again during the next Lok Sabha elections. Which makes one wonder about the rumours that claim Rahul might be shifting to Rae Bareli, leaving his sister Priyanka to debut from Amethi. And Priyanka vs Smirti Irani would certainly be an interesting battle to watch.