Timed out

The recent goof-up over a Congress rally addressed by party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi at which only a handful of people attended revealed afresh the deep fissures within the Delhi unit of the party. Insiders said the venue and time of the rally had been fixed almost a year ago. The sparse turnout was the result of Gandhi reaching the venue almost two hours late and that was because he wanted to ensure maximum media coverage for a press conference addressed by the party's senior women leaders in protest against the "snooping" scandal involving the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Some party officials think this is nothing but an excuse. The real reason for the coincidence was the simmering discontent between Congress leader Ajay Maken and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Apparently Maken deliberately fixed the timing of the "snoopgate" press conference to coincide with Rahul Gandhi's rally because he wanted to embarrass Dikshit.