All that flattery

Sometimes flattery fails. Notice what happened to former J&K chief minister, now a member of the Lok Sabha. At the first meeting of the newly-victorious UPA, Farooq Abdullah showered fulsome praise on Sonia Gandhi and Rahul. In his usual expansive style he lauded Rahul for the surprisingly good showing of the UPA, saying “I see my friend Rajiv Gandhi in Rahul… He worked wonders. It is because of him that we are here today.” Then turning to Sonia Gandhi, he said, “Madam, your son did a wonderful job.” It is a completely different matter that despite widespread expectations that Farooq would be made a Cabinet minister he was not included in the first list.