When Congress president Sonia Gandhi turned up at party’s parliament secretariat yesterday, no one was present to greet her.
When Congress president Sonia Gandhi turned up at party’s parliament secretariat yesterday, no one was present to greet her. Finding no other leader present at the secretariat, she left for Rashtrapati Bhavan as she had a scheduled meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee at 10 am.
So, has everyone deserted the party chief?
As for the above incidence, reportedly, the CPP meeting was re-scheduled for Saturday and the message could not reach the party president somehow.
Another reason was her impatience. Apparently, Madam G reached the party secretariat at 9.30 am while the meet was schedule for 10 am. Party members, despite re-scheduling of meeting culd have reached at 10. But she couldn’t wait inside for half an hour.
The whole case gives us two clear pictures. One, the stature of Madam G has diminished after Lok Sabha elections. It is simply bewildering that a crucial party meeting will be re-scheduled and party president will not be informed. Two, she is still as arrogant as an old Congress landlord would be.
First Assam and Maharashtra Congressmen vocally opposed their respective chief ministers. In Haryana, Chaudhary Birendra Singh, a Congress veteran, could switch to the BJP following a long struggle with chief minister BS Hooda.
Many senior leaders in West Bengal and Jharkhand too have left the party. Reportedly, the weak Congress of Gujarat might also see exodus of its leaders due t their disagreement with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. The party had finished with a grand tally of zero in Gujarat in the Lok Sabha elections.
The National Conference of Kashmir has left the UPA and Sharad Pawar-led NCP may do the same soon.
In addition to all this, there is almost a wave of summons in the party president’s house. There are in total six cases for which direct summons have been issued to Sonia and Rahul. They are:
1). National Herald scam: Way back in 2012, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy brought the National Herald scam to the national limelight. Sonia and Rahul are accused of land-grab and fraud, as from the complaint and evidence led so far, it appears Young Indian was created as a sham to convert public money to personal use for acquiring control over Rs 2000 crore worth of assets. Since both Sonia and Rahul are majority shareholders of Young Indian, they find themselves in a tight spot. The case comes up on August 7.
2). Lok Sabha election fraud: Ramesh singh, a voter from Rae Bareli constituency, from where Sonia got elected to the Lok Sabha, has raised questions on her election. The Allahabad High Court has accepted the petition and has issued notice to Sonia. So by September 8, the Congress party president will have to “file the written statements together with a list of documents which the respondents intend to rely as evidence in support of their defence.”
3). RSS defamation case: In the jest of Lok Sabha elections, Rahul had said during a campaign that ‘RSS shot Mahatma Gandhi”. The RSS promptly slapped a defamation case against Rahul. Now a Bhiwandi court has ruled that there is prima facie a case against Rahul and has issued summons. This particular case comes up for hearing on October 7.
4). Chandigarh defamation case: In one rally in Phulpur, Rahul had declared, ‘How long will you go and work as labourers in Punjab and Delhi? How long will you beg (for work) in Maharashtra?’ This time a Chandigarh-based lawyer took him to court. The petitioner called those remarks defamatory and derogatory and said they could lead to major unrest among communities. While this is a very old case, the summons has been issued for September 19.
5). Augusta-Westland chopper scam: This year when Agusta-Westland VVIP helicopter scam was being pursued in an Italian court, a note came up which mentioned the Congress President by name. While most media houses quietly buried that story, investigations are on in India and when it does reach the Indian courts, it is quite conceivable that Sonia may be summoned in yet another case.
6). 1984 anti-Sikh riots case: In America, a group called the Sikhs For Justice filed a case against Sonia accusing her of protecting the perpetrators of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Sonia conveniently ignored the summons when she was in the US and later refused to show her passport to the US court. The case ultimately fell flat due to ‘lack of subject matter jurisdiction’. Sonia then filed a motion for something called an ‘anti-suit injunction’ that would have prevented the SFJ from filing further lawsuits. However that didn’t happen and now the SFJ are free to keep pursuing the matter through other avenues.
Many other cases still have to see the light of the day, but it has surely snatched away the trust in the Nehru-Gandhi famiy.
Queen bee’s harem is being deserted.
