The current debate on who would be the next prime minister reminds me of the proverb "soot na kapas aur julahon me lattham lattha" (There is neither cotton thread nor cotton ball, but the weavers are fighting among themselves). In the case of an election that gives a fragmented verdict, one may think of even a dark horse as a compromise candidate as it was the case with Deve Gowda. Manmohan Singh said unwittingly in the course of a debate in Parliament a few months ago that L K Advani had to wait for 2014 to become the prime minister. Perhaps, he thought he was being sarcastic, but that meant the Bharatiya Janata Party would come to power after the next election! The public controversy between two office-bearers of the Congress on the bipolarity in the Centre of power testifies to the poor state of discipline in the party. It is indeed a matter of concern that the prime minister's authority has been undercut right from the first day when he occupied the post nine years ago. A majority of leaders and members of the Congress are still not reconciled to the idea of his becoming prime minister, since he is considered an "outsider" without any popular base or prior political background. Rahul Gandhi has done the right thing by rubbishing the talk about his eyeing the top job.
A Seshan, Mumbai
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