IS THERE A WAY OUT OF SIGN POSTS

WISHING SONIA RESTORATION TO HEALTH
BY CHITRANJAN SAWANT
THE AAM AADAMI WAS PUZZLED ON SONIA GANDHIS DEPARTURE FOR FOREIGN SHORES FOR SURGERY. Apparently some serious ailment that could not be cured in Bharat despite top-notch physicians and surgeons working in top class hospitals and research centres for medicine and surgery.
Janardan Dwivedi added unwarranted secrecy to ailment saying that the nature of ailment and the destination of the patient could not be made public due to security reasons. Manish, the firebrand spokesman of the Congress party thickened the secrecy veil saying that even the public persons are entitled to privacy.
VEIL LIFTED
Sonia Gandhi was admitted to Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, New York, USA for an urgent surgery. She was diagnosed suffering from cancer. The situation could be handledby an experienced surgeon alone. Dr Dattatreya, a NRI who enjoys the reputation of being anexperienced and effective surgeon operated upon Sonia Gandhi onThursday,5th August 11 and had the satisfaction of operating successfully. India heaved a sigh of relief. Sonia is out of the Intensive Care unit and is now convalescing in her hospital room. Rahul and Priyanka are with her for providing comfort and moral support.
The medical situation did not deteriorate suddenly. Alarm bells rang because her ailment had been a perfectly guarded secret for over a year. She had been undergoing treatment in London for over a year and had made many trips to the British capital. Since the diagnosis would have caused the alarm bell to ring much earlier and also upset the apple cart both in the government and the Congress party, her medical condition was kept a closely guarded secret. Meanwhile Rahul Gandhi was being prepared politically to shoulder the responsibility as a party leader but not yet a govt leader. He is doing precisely that in her mother's absence due to medical reasons.
CARETAKER GROUP
Sonia had constituted a core group of four confidants of hers to manage the Congress party during her absence of two to three weeks. Looking at the seriousness of the illness, the period of her absence may be longer. It all depends on her pace of post-operation recovery.
Many questions have been asked and doubts raised by people at large about the composition of the core group formed to run the show in the party. The core group comprises Rahul Gandhi, AK Antony, Ahmed Patel and Janardan Dwivedi. It is surmised that young Rahul will be in the driving seat and the other three will provide him active support and give suggestions since they are experienced persons in the political arena. AK Antony is a Kerala Christians and enjoys the reputation of being honest. Moreover, he has no ambition of adorning the PM chair and, therefore, not a threat to the Gandhi dynasty in power. Ahmed Patel is not only the political secretary to Sonia Gandhi but also is reported to be an expert wheeler dealer. The unkindest cut was his being linked to Hassan Ali,the stud owner of Pune and a money launderer. However, he is the closest confidant of Sonia Gandhi. Being a Gujarati Muslim, he lies low in the state politics and is no threat to Rahul's ascendancy at the national level.Janardan Dwivedy is a media buff and has been loyal to the first family of Bharat all along. As is known nationally, loyalty to Gandhis is an asset to go up the ladder of progress and competence or efficiency takes a back seat.
Pranab Mukherjee's absence from the core group is difficult to explain as he is the main trouble shooter of the Congress party. To say that he is busy running the finance ministry and couldnot handle both the govt and the party is a lame excuse. Antony is equally busy as the Raksha Mantri but he is prominent member of the core group. Perhaps his being a Christian has helped him climb up the ladder.
We hope and pray that Sonia Gandhi is back in Bharat early and is fighting fit to mount frontal attacks