The politician in him refused to name the next prime minister in the event of Congress retaining power. But Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid and one of the present trouble-shooters of the UPA Government, left little room for speculation.
Khurshid did not come out with the name though, he was emphatic someone younger than him may don the mantle of PMship in future. And that 'someone' (read Rahul Gandhi) would be from the Gandhi family. Khurshid's observation came while replying to a question at an interactive session
on 'Ideological Literature: Dead or Alive?" on the second and last day of the Odisha Literary Festival, organised by The New Indian Express, on Saturday. Khurshid was in conversation with noted academic and JNU Professor Pushpesh Pant.
Though not forthcoming on such issues as his wont, Khurshid's remark came on persistent query by Prabhu Chawla, Editorial Director of The New Indian Express, who was moderating the session. Khurshid said he did not rule out the son of a Gandhi family becoming the prime minister. However, he did not open up further on the issue.
To another query by Chawla whether there was an ideological contradiction between the statements of Rahul Gandhi, who spoke about two Indias in Odisha, and Manmohan Singh, for whom there is only one India, Khurshid denied it is so. "When Rahul speaks of two Indias, he is meaning the millions of people who will be in stress if the growth will not be inclusive. When the Prime Minister was speaking of one India, he was speaking of inclusive growth," Khurshid sought to explain.
He justified the Congress swinging into the defence of Sonia's son-in-law Robert Vadra, who is under a cloud following allegations by social activist Arvind Kejriwal. "When the purpose of picking up someone for attack is to hit the leader of the party, we will obviously come out to defend or else we will be cowards," he said.
The Law Minister strongly advocated a different approach to politics. "I wish in politics, instead of yelling at each other, we should reconcile," he said and thanked The New Indian Express Group for giving a platform for exchange of ideas.
Khurshid was critical of the Left parties that look similar to Congress, but behave differently and many times recalled their association with the Right. "When the matter of ideology comes, they (Left) hate us. The Left had powerful voices, but did not reach the villages of India, but we (Congress) reached the villages of India," he said.
Drawing liberally from history, Khurshid charged that the Left was out to destroy the liberal leadership of the Congress. "They hit the Congress when they joined hands with the RSS, the extreme Right." Khurshid admitted that though the Congress and Left have collaborated, they have problems. "The Right on the other hand are not similar to us, but at times behave like us," he said.