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'Rahul like JP' remark: Cong may axe spokesperson

October 23, 2010 00:05 IST

After Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the All India Congress Committee media department has claimed its second victim from Rajasthan.

The newly appointed Congress spokesperson Mohan Prakash may have a very short tenure, if the buzz in the AICC is to be believed. Sources in the party disclose that both party chief Sonia and general secretary Rahul Gandhi are absolutely livid at the way in which he compared Rahul to anti-Emergency hero Jayprakash Narain, a leader who was one of the bitterest critics of former prime minister Indira Gandhi and was never a well wisher of the Congress or the Gandhi family.

His explanation that the statement was meant for the ongoing Bihar elections appears to have made the situation worse since the Congress is pitted in Bihar against two leaders, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, both of whom were disciples of Jayprakash Narain.

The party decided to cancel its daily briefing on Friday as it did not wanted to answer questions on the issue as it had no way of either agreeing with the spokesperson or defending him.

AICC media department chairman Janaradan Dwivedi is away in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly session.

The party is also upset at the manner in which Mohan Prakash did not make it clear to the media that the objections to the misuse of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) were limited only to the Gujarat unit and not on an all-India basis.

The party has already hailed the EVMs as being fair and above board though the Gujarat unit is now alleging at the manner in which the EVMs were being 'misused'' by its Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Sources say it is unlikely that Mohan Prakash would be asked to hold any more briefings, similar to the manner in which Abhishek was asked to stop after the Kerala unit of the Congress decided to lodge a strong protest against him.

Mohan Prakash is an old socialist from Rajasthan and is now in the Congress as AICC secretary in-charge of Maharashtra, apart from also being on the panel of spokespersons.

He is known to be close to Janardan Dwivedi, the AICC general secretary and in-charge of the media apartment, and it was his decision to make him a full-fledged spokesperson after the exit of Abhishk Singhvi who was reportedly not on good terms with Dwivedi.

Mohan Prakash was in the Janata Dal and was a disciple of Jayprakash Narain before he moved to the Congress.

Renu Mittal in New Delhi