May 19, 2004
 

High drama yesterday as Sonia Gandhi refused to become Prime Minister. Scores of Congress cadre and psychophants repeatedly pleaded with her to revoke her decision. Some of them went to the extent of being emotional enough to threaten suicide. In the Central Hall of Parliament, some MPs wept or held back tears when they were given an opportunity to voice their views on her decision in a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party held last night, televised on Doordarshan.

Sonia Gandhi's decision is widely believed to have been influenced by her children, Rahul and Priyanka, who are obviously concerned at the threats to her safety given the family's track record of assassinations or sudden deaths, as witnessed in the case of Sanjay Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. However the timing of her announcement does baffle me. Why didn't she make it clear that she wasn't interested in the job when the CPP elected her the leader? That would have saved everyone a lot of trouble. It has been a political masterstroke though. Now the NDA will make its way to the swearing-in ceremony. Sushma Swaraj need not tonsure her head or eat rajma dal for lunch. Uma Bharati however is in trouble. Before Sonia announced her decision, she had handed in her resignation to Venkiah Naidu. Now obviously she'll cut short her Kedarnath pilgrimage and return to Bhopal.

With Manmohan Singh widely expected to be India's new Prime Minister, given that Ms. Gandhi is unlikely to retract her decision, the markets which had been pummelled on Monday, jumped back with a vengeance and recovered to end close to the 4900 mark. Today it went past the psychological 5000 barrier and things seem ok ... until the loony Left makes another irresponsible statement.

Labels: manmohan singh, sonia gandhi