Pranab Mukherjee too valuable for Congress to be made President?

May 4, 2012
Pranab-Mukherjee200x230New Delhi, May 4: The Congress's dilemma over whether to sponsor Pranab Mukherjee in the race for Rashtrapati Bhavan was out in the open on Thursday when a party spokesperson hurriedly withdrew her comment about the veteran finance minister's indispensability for the government.

The spokesperson, Renuka Chaudhary, kicked up a virtual storm when she told reporters, "It will never be easy to leave Pranabda. He is such a valuable person for us in the party. His contribution to the party cannot be even measured. For him, it will not seem to be fair but he has such an active political mind. He is too involved and knows politics so well."

A gushing Chaudhary went on to call Mukherjee a valuable guide, in what was almost universally interpreted as signalling the Congress's reluctance to spare its chief troubleshooter for a non-political sinecure.

The lavish commentary, however, was immediately rolled back, with Chaudhary taking pains to emphasize that her genuine expression of admiration for Mukherjee's skills had been misunderstood and twisted out of context.

When asked about the "confusion" over names doing the rounds, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said, "There is no confusion. Have patience. There is still time." Although stating the obvious, the remark could have served to reassure that nobody has been ruled out yet as a candidate.

Chaudhary's retraction came amid indications of the finance minister's unhappiness over what he saw as an attempt to indulge him into withdrawing his claim for the top constitutional job.

Tired of being passed over for the prized trophies, starting from prime ministership to the stewardship of the home ministry, Mukherjee is learnt to have made it clear to the leadership that he would like to retreat to the sidelines rather than put up with career stagnation.

Sources said the finance minister reacted to Chaudhary's lavish prose by making it clear that he was not amused. "He saw it as an attempt to spoil his chances," acknowledged a senior Congress source.

Mukherjee is locked in a dead heat with Vice-President Hamid Ansari for Congress endorsement for Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The Congress has been unable to take a call. It is appreciative of Mukherjee's hurt as well as of the need to assuage it but the party fears that the departure of the UPA's principal firefighter will leave the government vulnerable. There are also worries that the prime minister, now at the fag end of a surprisingly long tenure and sure of not heading UPA-3, may start disengaging from Sonia Gandhi's political project just when the Congress chief is hoping for a fresh burst of energy before the 2014 polls.

The bind was underlined once again on Thursday evening when Sonia refrained from spelling out the party's choice when she discussed presidential elections with Trinamool boss and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

At the official Congress briefing, spokesman Rashid Alvi said he could not comment on candidates since the consultations were still underway but added that Renuka Chaudhary was correct in saying that "Mukherjee is important for party, parliament and government".

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 3,2020

Mumbai, Mar 3: The country will turn "peaceful" if Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "bhakts" follow him in quitting the social media, the NCP said on Tuesday, taking a dig at the PM over his tweet that was thinking of giving up his social media accounts.

NCP chief spokesperson and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik also said that Modi's decision will be "in the interest of the country".

His comments came a day after Modi said he is contemplating giving up social media presence.

"This Sunday, thinking of giving up my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube. Will keep you all posted," the prime minister said on the micro-blogging site.

Taking a swipe at the prime minister, Malik in a tweet said, "Yesterday, Modi ji gave hint of giving up the social media from Sunday. Some leaders are also talking about giving up (the social media). The country will turn peaceful if all the bhakts (followers) give it up."

"Modi ji's decision will be in the interest of the country. We welcome it, Modi ji take decision," Malik tweeted with the hash tag "ModiQuitsSocialMedia".

Earlier, the Congress took a swipe at the prime minister, with Rahul Gandhi tweeting "Give up hatred, not social media accounts" after tagging Modi's post.

Within minutes of Modi's tweet on Monday, scores of netizens urged him not to quit the various social media platforms as 'No Sir' trended on Twitter.

The prime minister is one of the most-followed world leaders on social media. He has 53.3 million followers on Twitter, 44 million on Facebook and 35.2 millionon Instagram.

The Twitter handle of Prime Minister's Office has 32 million followers.

In September 2019, PM Modi was the third most followed world leader on the microblogging site, behind only US President Donald Trump and his predecessor Barack Obama.

The Prime Minister was the first Indian to cross the 50-million followers mark on Twitter.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Bloomberg
July 27,2020

New Delhi, Jul 27: India’s coronavirus epidemic is now growing at the fastest in the world, increasing 20% over the last week to more than 14 lakh confirmed cases, according to Bloomberg’s Coronavirus Tracker.

Infections in the South Asian nation of 130 crore people have reached 14.3 lakh, including 32,771 deaths, India’s health ministry said, with daily cases close to a record 50,000 on Monday. India is only trailing the US and Brazil now in the number of confirmed infections, but its growth in new cases is the fastest.

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are among the states where the maximum number of daily cares are being reported. The world’s second-most populous country has been ramping up testing, with 515,472 samples taken on Sunday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Still, India and Brazil have some of the world’s lowest testing rates, with 11.8 tests and 11.93 tests per 1,000 people respectively, compared to the US with 152.98 tests per 1,000 and Russia with 184.34, according to Our World in Data, a project based at the University of Oxford in the UK.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 27,2020

New Delhi, Feb 27: An Indian Air Force aircraft on Thursday evacuated 76 Indians and 36 foreign nationals from the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan.

The C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft was sent to Wuhan on Wednesday and it carried 15 tonnes of medical supplies for coronavirus-affected people in China.

On its return, the aircraft brought back 112 people, including 23 citizens from Bangladesh, six from China, two each from Myanmar and the Maldives and one each from South Africa, the US and Madagascar.

Earlier, India had evacuated around 650 Indians from Wuhan in two Air India flights.

“In all 723 Indian nationals and 43 foreign nationals have been evacuated from Wuhan, China, in these three flights,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

On the medical supplies delivered by India to China, the MEA said they would help augment the country’s efforts to control the coronavirus outbreak which had been declared as a public health emergency by the World Health Organisation.

“The assistance is also a mark of friendship and solidarity from the people of India towards the people of China as the two countries also celebrate 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations this year,” it said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.