After five years of UPA government its chairman Sonia Gandhi is stainless. Her stock as the leader of India has gone up and not gone down in these five years. In spite of being in power for the last five years there are no charges against her of corruption or anything else. Please comment.
I think that's a loaded question. She did not take any responsibility while in power but pulled strings from the background. Therefore, she has not signed any files so that she can escape responsibility. But, then, who is responsible for the Central Bureau of Investigation's collusion in wiping off the stains of all the tainted ministers?
Who is responsible for the crown prosecutor episode in London when you defrost Ottavio Quattrochi's accounts? Obviously, it was the CBI and government that were doing it and the political masters were somewhere behind them.
I think, if I was to analyse her I would say that she seems to have taken her political decision to not to take power in her own name, keep Manmohan Singh as a regent or night watchman and allow him to bat on till he wins an election or he is voted out, or as an alternative till Rahul is ready and then, allow Rahul to take over.
I think it is the great failure of the UPA when the country wants them to address the issues faced by the people you are converting this campaign into a family melodrama. Ma yeh kah rahi hai, beta woh kah raha hai, beti kuch aur kah rahi hai, daamad apni baat kar raha hai. Beti kahti hai, bahu ayegi to kaisi ayegi (The mother is saying one thing, the son is saying another, the daughter is saying something altogether different, and the son-in-law is doing his own thing. The daughter is talking of what kind of wife the brother will get).
India is not a banana republic. It is the world's largest democracy that is going to polls. Therefore, we expect better answers to job losses; we want better answers against the terrorist strikes and you are just converting the election into play-acting by the members of a family.
There is no proof of division of 'official' powers between Sonia Gandhi and Dr Singh. You are a lawyer so you understand better that you should have some evidence or a charge that can be substantiated.
The PM has himself said that the 'principle of dual authority has worked very well.' He said it at the Editors Guild meeting. He has said she takes the political decisions and I handle the government.
Should the Indian prime minister only be a Cabinet secretary clearing files or should he be the leader directing the cause of the nation? This whole business of dual authority means the dilution of prime ministerial authority.
But your media campaign on the issue of 'weak PM' hasn't worked as you wanted it. You are on the defensive because you have no answer why L K Advani did not know about the terrorists being released over Kandahar.
Kandahar is only a deflection by the Congress. The fact is in this campaign not a single positive achievement of the UPA of the last five years is being projected by them. There is no talk of the NREGA or bank loans waiver. So, there is only a three-point campaign. Our campaign about 'PM being a weak leader' has worked. A proof that it is working comes every morning when they get up and say no, no, he is not a weak leader.
Second, they are trying to say that Advani is a weak leader. The third issue revolves around this family melodrama. It's a saas-bahu show. As a BJP campaigner I get satisfaction to see my rival in this position.
Image: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Congress president Sonia Gandhi during the release of the Congress party manifesto in New Delhi, March 24, 2009. Photograph: B Mathur/Reuters.
Also see: Exclusive: 'My father is the toughest person I know' | India Votes 2009
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