The Congress on Friday put up an air of nonchalance over Narendra Modi’s anointment as the BJP’s PM candidate and instead chose to focus on the signs of improvement seen on the economic front.
Shrugging off the hype over Modi in the rival camp with an indifferent attitude, the party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury said that developments in any other party did not concern the Congress; even as its top-brass held deliberations on the way ahead.
“We simply cannot be bothered,” Chowdhury replied when asked how the Congress viewed Modi’s projection as the BJP’s PM candidate. This clearly was the official stance and came a little ahead of the BJP’s PM candidate announcement.
When BJP chief Rajnath Singh announced the Gujarat Chief Minister’s name, the Congress reaction became a lot more shrill. I&B Minister Manish Tewari went on to say that even before the BJP had announced their PM candidate before the last two general elections, without much success, and that the next elections would be no different. He then targeted the RSS for ‘ramming through the decision down the BJP’s throat with little care for the party’s internal democracy’.
The Congress which was smirking over the division within the BJP over Modi’s candidature later said there was nothing more undemocratic than the political developments going on in the rival camp.
The Congress core committee comprising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party chief Sonia Gandhi and others senior leaders met for the first time after Sonia’s return from the US and there were indications that the current political and economic situation and Friday’s court verdict on the Delhi gangrape case were discussed. The meeting lasted for half an hour and it is being speculated that the party’s revised strategy in the wake of Modi’s declaration as the BJP’s PM candidate was briefly taken up, though the current view within the party ‘is not to overtly react’ and follow the line they’ve been following.
It seems concerns about the possibility of growing communal tensions, like the kind seen in Muzaffarnagar in UP, were expressed and the need for taking administrative measures was discussed.