First Tharoor, now Chidambaram: Senior leaders put Congress on backfoot | India News
NEW DELHI: The Congress is once again under BJP fire. And once again, the ammunition for this all-out attack has been provided by a party leader. P Chidambaram‘s reality check on the future of INDIA bloc has left the Congress scurrying for cover. “The future (of the INDIA bloc) is not so bright. It shows at the seams that it is frayed … ” Chidambaram said at a book launch in the national capital on Thursday.The BJP, as expected, latched on to Chidambaram’s remarks and unleashed a fierce offensive against the Congress. And why not? After all, the leadership of opposition’s INDIA bloc is with the grand-old-party and Mallikarjun Kharge is its chairperson. So, Chidambaram’s assessment points to failure of the Congress leadership to lead the opposition coalition effectively. Also Read: ‘New normal’ for Congress? Shashi Tharoor’s praise for PM Modi’s policiesIronically, his remarks come at a time when the Congress was already struggling over statements made by Shashi Tharoor in support of PM Modi’s policies during the India-Pakistan standoff. Several BJP leaders cited Tharoor’s remarks praising several government’s policies, including the ceasefire decision, to slam and school the Congress leadership.It was only yesterday that Congress leader Jairam Ramesh officially announced that Tharoor’s remarks were his personal views. “When Mr. Tharoor speaks, it is his view and it is not the stand of the party,” Jairam Ramesh had said yesterday. Some reports citing Congress sources had suggested that the party had expressed displeasure with Tharoor’s statements and was of the view that the Thiruvananthapuram MP had crossed the Lakshman Rekha this time around. However, Tharoor had dismissed these reports and called them “media creation without any evidence.”Chidambaram’s statement coming in this backdrop put the party once again on the backfoot.Citing Chidambaram’s reality check, the BJP and its allies have been relentless in targeting the Congress and the INDIA bloc calling it a “greed-driven coalition”, “Maha-thagbandhan”, “opportunistic alliance”, “kushti-dosti model”, “company of looters”, “group of corrupt leaders”, “ghamandiya alliance”. Some even raised questions on Congress’s leadership role and claimed that the grand-old-party is fading and has no future.INDIA bloc, which was launched with a lot of fanfare, is actually gasping for breath today and to that extent Chidambaram is spot on in his assessment. But to announce that from a public platform definetely helps party’s political rivals – the BJP in this case.It will be interesting to see how the Congress reacts to this new challenge. Party leader Udit Raj, who had slammed Tharoor for ‘becoming BJP’s spokesperson’, had a word of advice for Chidambaram. “Party has given him a lot. He and his son are MPs. Since the party is not in power, Chidambaram ji should go around the country and conduct a dialogue,” he said.Tharoor has been at loggerheads with the party for some time now, but Chidambaram’s remarks may have come as a surprise. Interestingly, last week when BJP national general secretary Radha Mohan Das Agrawal had slammed the Congress over demand to sack Madhya Pradesh minister Vijay Shah for his controversial statement on Col Sofia Qureshi, he had cited both Tharoor and Chidambaram to prove his point.“If people start giving resignation for statements, then no one would be left in the Congress except for P Chidambaram and Shashi Tharoor. We should first demand Rahul Gandhi’s resignation,” the BJP general secretary had said. The fact that both these leaders have put Congress in a spot of bother may be a matter of coincidence. Perhaps.
