Apropos of the recent editorial ?Rahul Gandhi ver 2.0?, an economist Prime Minister heading the UPA-1 had largely delivered. There were dissensions within but the need to prove a point to the ousted NDA kept the egos in the Congress in check. The unexpected windfall of 206 seats in 2009 proved to be the end of these inhibitions within and it was every one to himself thereafter, and that included the allies. The liberal and inclusive policies put in motion by the Congress had even shut out the regular Left, which was packed off into political hibernation. Pranab Mukherjee couldn’t prove to be a superstar finance minister Manmohan Singh lost grip on his Prime Ministerial oversight, with scams going viral. That the UPA-2 could last for two long years since late 2011 ought to be ranked as a political miracle that a coalition government alone can perform, of course aided by a sulking BJP, itself in disarray. It is because of all this that Rahul Gandhi does not need much nerve today on the threshold of national elections, to castigate corruption. That too when the AAP is already centre-stage and thriving on the issue. To cap all this, the Congress goes to town supporting the AAP government in Delhi. Rahul and his party may well hit it off, given that the BJP is left with the singleton Modi card, which is not infallible to rapid paced changes in the national scene leading up to 2014, as also its own uncertain internal equations.
R Narayanan, Ghaziabad
