Congress on slippery ground again: Will battered Sonia survive Natwar’s sting?

It seems Congress' cup of woes will not get over soon. At a time when nothing is in their favour after big rout in the Lok Sabha election, a new revelation by the Former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh will definitely prove a big dampener for Congress party ahead of Assembly elections. Considered an acolyte of Gandhi family, Singh claimed that Rahul Gandhi asked his mother Sonia Gandhi not to take up the Prime Minister post in 2004, contrary to the theory that because of her (Sonia) own ‘inner voice', she chucked the post.

"Rahul was totally against her mother becoming Prime Minister. He said she would be killed like his father and grand-mother and as a son he would not allow to become the PM. He was very adamant," Singh claimed in a TV interview.

Baru and Parakh book had put Manmohan and Sonia in dock
This is third book in a row which has denigrated the Congress party's image to its maximum. Two successive books, Sanjaya Baru's "The accidental Prime Minister" and P C Parakh's "Crusader or Conspirator? Coalgate and other Truths" had embarrassed the erstwhile Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that he headed a Government in which he had "little" political authority. Sanjaya Baru was the media advisor of Manmohan Singh while Parakh was the former coal secretary. Both (Baru and Parakh) had broadly raised the point that Manmohan Singh was merely a rubberstamp with little political say and the real power rested with Sonia Gandhi in UPA's tenure.

Natwar pushes Congress to wall
Former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh has majorly revealed following three points about his autobiography "One Life is Not Enough" in an interview.
• He held Sonia Gandhi responsible for humiliating rout in Lok Sabha election, where Congress was pushed to lowest tally ever in history. Modi-led BJP decimated the dynasty party to 48 in the Lok Sabha poll.
• An estranged Gandhi family friend Natwar said that 10 Janpath, the residence of Sonia Gandhi was the real power centre and all decisions were taken from there only.
• Natwar Singh swiped at Sonia Gandhi's growth trajectory saying that initially, she was a nervous and shy woman but afterwards she turned authoritarian and her approach became highly secretive.
Meanwhile, terming the claims as politically motivated, the Congress leaders have slammed what Natwar Singh has revealed.
"Natwar Singh had an unceremonious exit from the UPA Govt after the Volcker Committee Report on the Oil for Food scandal in 2005. He was later suspended from the Congress Party. His recent remarks in a TV interview appear to be politically motivated and aimed at seeking publicity for the sale of his book," Abhishek Singhvi, party spokesperson said.

Why this hypocrisy by Congress party?

When the reason for not taking up the post of Prime Minister was the fear that she (Sonia) might be killed like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi then why this whole emotional drama was orchestrated?

Congress people have always exploited this sacrifice theory in election and even swiped at BJP leaders saying that they (Congress) have courage to give up the chair in the interest of the country. But if one goes with the Congress leader's book, then, Sonia did not make the ultimate sacrifice out of her wish but out of pressure from her dear son. Congress, a party with long history of hypocrisy, paid for the same in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls by getting decimated by the BJP. The party failed to sell its tall and false claims to the people during poll and thus, voters out rightly rejected their duplicity. It's high time the party learns that people cannot be fooled for long and at last its only truth that prevails.