Pay per view

As Tharoor's oblique reply above suggests, Congress spokespersons are having a rough time balancing the requirements of showing loyalty to the Gandhi family and speaking their minds. So some of them have devised a via media when asked questions about the role of Rahul Gandhi or his coterie in the party's electoral defeat. "That question is, as the Americans say, beyond my pay grade," they say - but always with a wide smile.