● AMULYA GANGULI

There is little doubt thatby declining to join "ac-tive" politics, PriyankaGandhi-Vadra will not onlycause huge disappointmentto her growing body of sup-porters in the Congress, butmay also undermine theparty's chances of revival.To her followers, she rep-resents the last and perhapsonly hope of the party's re-covery following its demor-alizing defeat in the April-May general elections. Ac-customed to looking only atthe Nehru-Gandhi family tolead them, Priyanka's sup-porters evidently turned toher when it seemed abun-dantly clear that neitherparty president SoniaGandhi nor vice presidentRahul Gandhi was the an-swer to the organisation'stravails.While Sonia Gandhi hasbeen largely spared any di-rect criticism, except fromwriters of books on currentaffairs, Rahul Gandhi hasbeen the target of consider-able carping, ranging frombeing called a "joker" to be-ing surrounded by rootlesswonders with little under-standing of Indian politics.However, there was a sug-gestion that both motherand son should take a two-year sabbatical, an unusualobservation in a partywhich has acquired the rep-utation of being run like afeudal household with itsretinue of servile courtiers.This was also the closest

any party member had evercome to saying that SoniaGandhi was not the answerto the party's problems andthat the organization couldperhaps be better off if shekept out of the way forsome time along with her

darling son.In this depressing context,Priyanka Gandhi-Vadraaroused the most expecta-tions. The reasons havelong been obvious. Betweenthe three - mother, son anddaughter - Priyanka hasbeen seen as the most natu-rally endowed with leader-ship qualities in being ar-ticulate and, most impor-tantly, without any hang-ups in the matter of reach-ing out to the people.Because of her open, ex-trovert nature, party cadresand ordinary people felt atease in her company. In astrange way, she combinedthe personal charisma ofher grandmother, IndiraGandhi, without the formerprime minister's intimidat-ing regal presence.Rahul Gandhi, unfortu-nately, does not have any ofthese qualities. He not onlyappears to be a reluctantpolitician as his poor recordof attendance in parliamentand prolonged periods ofabsence from the countryshowed his aloofness inhib-ited even Congressmenfrom approaching him, letalone the ordinary people.Some of his ideas have

also seemed woolly. Hischarge, for instance, thatmost of the parties are runby a few has never been tak-en seriously because hehimself belongs to perhapsthe most exclusive of suchcoteries.Notwithstanding his in-ability to provide inspira-tional leadership, it canseem odd that Sonia Gandhiinsisted on pushing him tothe forefront, even egginghim on to be aggressivewhen he barged into thewell of the Lok Sabha toprotest against the speak-er's conduct.If anyone was looking forsigns of confirmation of So-nia Gandhi's wish to passthe baton to her son, thatuncharacteristic interven-tion in parliament was themoment. It is probably not acoincidence that within twodays of the incident,Priyanka announced her in-tention to stay away fromactive politics, which virtu-ally amounted to her "re-tirement".The haste may have been

occasioned by the an-nouncement by a relativelyunknown Congressspokesperson that all threemembers of the dynastywill be in the leadership.There have also been re-ports that Priyanka may bemade general secretary incharge of the party in UttarPradesh.These statements proba-bly reflected the wishfulthinking of Priyanka's sup-porters rather than any de-cision taken by the party.But, arguably, the Congresspresident did not want thespeculations to spread anyfurther. There are severalreasons for putting a lid onthe rumours. One is thatRahul's image will suffer ifthere is a clamour forPriyanka to play a majorrole. As it is, the dauphin isnot seen by a majority ofthe party men as someonewho can reverse the presenttrend of the Congress's de-cline. Even outside the par-ty, he is seen as the poor lit-tle rich boy who has beenforced to do the family's,and his mother's, biddingwhen his heart is not in the

job since he is palpably nota political animal. As theformer Congressman, Nat-war Singh, has said in hisautobiography, Rahul doesnot have "fire in the belly".Another reason why allthe gossip had to bescotched is the close per-sonal relations betweenbrother and sister. Priyan-ka evidently realized that ifshe is pushed to the fore-front by a section of theparty men, a rift cannot butappear between the siblingswhich will be highly dis-tressing for everyone in thefamily.There is also a third rea-son. For all her popularityamong Congressmen,Priyanka is hobbled by theallegations against her hus-band's business ventures.This is a major disadvan-tage. After all, her father'sgovernment was broughtdown by the Bofors how-itzer scandal in 1989 and theManmohan Singh govern-ment's downfall can also beattributed to the charges ofcorruption which it faced.Even then, Priyanka's de-cision means that the Con-

gress is back to square one,depending wholly on Soniaand Rahul to extricate itfrom the political quag-mire. The prospect doesn'tseem bright.

02 NATION FREEPRESSINDORE | SUNDAY | AUGUST 10, 2014

Telangana, Centre... well as management and allocation of government build-ings in the common capital. The union home ministry suggested 13 norms to em-power the governor. The norms made commissioners ofHyderabad and Cyberabad and superintendent of policein neighbouring Ranga Reddy district accountable tohim. A special cell will be set up to deal with hate crimes andcrimes related to extortion and another cell to deal withinternal security and security of vital installations.Terming the central government "fascist", Chan-drasekhar Rao rejected the direction. KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, also de-cided to convene a meeting of chief ministers of statesruled by non-NDA parties to protest what he calls in-fringement of constitutional rights of the state. He made it clear that the state cannot implement thecentral government's decision and termed it as a blatantinterference in the state's affairs. KCR, who led the movement for a separate Telanganastate and became its first chief minister in June, allegedthat the Centre was trying to usurp powers of the demo-cratically-elected government.

US aids displaced Iraqis ...The extremists have captured hundreds of Yazidiwomen, according to an Iraqi official, while thousands ofother civilians fled in fear as the militants seized a stringof northern towns and villages in recent days. Yazidis belong to ancient religion seen by the IslamicState group as heretical. The extremist group considersShiite Muslims apostates, and has demanded Christianseither convert to Islam or pay a special tax. Ameri-can planes conducted a second airdrop of food and waterearly today for those trapped in the Sinjar mountains,said Pentagon chief spokesman Rear Adm John Kirby. Escorted by two Navy fighter jets, three planes dropped72 bundles of supplies for the refugees, including morethan 28,000 meals and more than 1,500 gallons of water,said Kirby, who spoke from New Delhi during a trip withUS Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 With Priyanka's 'no', Congress revival prospects dim

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POLITICAL CIRCUS

● JAIDEEP SARINChandigarh

Sworn allies in Punjab forover three decades, theBharatiya Janata Party(BJP) and the ShiromaniAkali Dal are political foesin adjoining Haryana.Weird?The BJP and the Akali Dalhave been running an al-liance government in Pun-jab since 2007. The Akalisare also part of the BJP-ledNational Democratic Al-liance (NDA). HarsimratBadal, from the Akali Dal, isa minister in the NarendraModi government.In Haryana, which goes tothe polls later this year, theAkalis have, however,stitched an alliance with theIndian National Lok Dal(INLD).The BJP, which has a tie-up with the Haryana JanhitCongress (HJC) led byKuldeep Bishnoi, son of for-mer chief minister BhajanLal, is all set to oppose theINLD-Akali Dal allianceand the ruling Congress.The Akalis, especially itssenior most leader and Pun-jab Chief Minister ParkashSingh Badal, have put theBJP on a sticky wicket bysiding with the INLD - andby raking up the row overthe control of gurdwaras inHaryana.

In Punjab, Badal assertsthat the alliance with theBJP is "forever". But thesame does not hold true inHaryana.With the BJP eyeing itsfirst major electoral victoryin Haryana's assemblypolls, the controversy and

violence associated with thecontrol of Haryana gurd-waras could not have comeat a worse time - just beforethe assembly elections.The BJP national leader-

ship had to, behind thescenes; restrain Badal re-cently from taking the gurd-waras matter too far as thiscould affect the BJP in thecoming elections.In the recent Lok Sabhapolls, the BJP won seven ofthe 10 parliamentary seatsin Haryana. This was thebest performance by theBJP, which did not have asolid political base inHaryana. The BJP had con-

tested eight seats in thestate.The BJP's alliance partner,HJC, lost both the seats itcontested, Hisar and Sirsa.The two seats were lost toINLD candidates who weresupported by the Akali Dal.In fact, the INLD candi-date and winner of the Sir-sa seat, Charanjit SinghRori, was an Akali Dal legis-lator earlier.On the Hisar seat, HJCpresident Kuldeep Bishnoi,whom the BJP had once pro-jected as the future chiefminister of the BJP-HJC al-liance, lost by around 32,000votes to INLD's DushyantChautala, great-grandson offormer deputy prime minis-ter Devi Lal.Badal went and cam-paigned for the INLD candi-dates on both seats, whichtechnically meant that hewas opposing the BJP-HJCalliance. Badal had tried, be-fore the Lok Sabha polls, toforge an alliance betweenthe BJP and the INLD, butthe BJP leadership opted forthe HJC.The BJP and INLD have inthe past been politically to-gether and even ran an al-liance government inHaryana.For the BJP and the AkaliDal, political friendshipseems to end at Punjab'sborder with Haryana. IANS

BJP-AKALIS: Friends inPunjab, foes in Haryana

NEWS ANALYSIS

New Delhi

Having offered to jointly de-velop and produce the nextgeneration ‘Javelin’ anti-tank guided missile to India,the US today said the twocountries should not allowbureaucratic red tape tobound their defence coopera-tion, reports PTI.Addressing a gatheringhere, US Defence SecretaryChuck Hagel said Americahas proposed around a dozenproposals to India under De-fence Trade and TechnologyInitiative (DTTI) for manu-facturing defence hardwaretogether. “This will help in expand-ing their regional securitycooperation...We have of-fered to not only co-producebut also co-develop the nextgeneration Javelin anti-tankguided missiles. This is anunprecedented offer,” Hagelsaid. Under the DTII, the two

countries have agreed tojointly produce and developdefence systems and have ap-pointed nodal officers for tak-ing forward this initiative.“For both our nations, thechallenge is to seize the op-portunities, those opportuni-ties that are before us today.Bureaucratic red tape withinour two governments mustnot limit our partnershipsand initiatives,” he said. The Javelin missile co-de-velop offer from the US hasbeen under consideration ofthe Indian defence establish-ment for a long time but dueto reluctance of the Ameri-can equipment manufactur-ers to share critical technolo-gy, the Army has not shownmuch interest in it. The re-newed offer is part of theAmerican efforts to revi-talise defence ties which haveslowed down in the last two-three years. The US Defence Secretary

said the DTTI was also in linewith the Indian plans to ex-pand its defence industrialbase, and added that the risein FDI cap will also help inincreasing defence coopera-tion between the two coun-tries. Hagel said he will take apersonal interest in pushingforward this initiative andUS Under Secretary for Ac-quisition Frank Kendall willvisit India by the end of thisyear. He said the DTTI will helpin India’s plan to have self-sufficiency in defence sectorand will create jobs in bothIndia and the US as “it was avehicle to take the defenceties between the two coun-tries to a new stage”. Asked if the DTTI initiativewill work, the topmost US de-fence official said if the lead-ership of the two countries iscommitted, it will definitelywork.

Modi Govt selling ‘desi’ dreams through foreign route: Sharad Nagpur

JD(U) President Sharad Yadav today criticised the BJP-ledNDA government for its move to invite foreign investmentin a host of key sectors saying there was no difference be-tween this and the previous Congress-led UPA government,reports PTI. He accused the Narendra Modi Government of “sellingdreams” to the people through FDI in sectors like defence,Railways and insurance, an agenda unsuccessfully pushedby the UPA regime. “The NDA Government is selling dreams through FDI inimportant sectors like defence, Railways and insurance,which the Congress-led UPA government could not do on itsown,” Yadav told reporters here. The Government on Wednesday last approved raising theFDI limit in the defence sector to 49 per cent and opened upthe Railway infrastructure segment for foreign direct in-vestment (FDI). “The UPA Government could not push forward the FDIagenda since it lacked clear majority in Parliament. But theNDA has absolute majority and therefore determined to goahead with the FDI... former Prime Minister Dr ManmohanSingh and his cabinet colleague Union Finance Minister PChidambaram were keen for FDI in these sectors, but failedin their attempts,” said Yadav, whose party was once part ofthe BJP-led alliance. Criticising the focus on FDI route, the former Union Min-ister said, “Mahatma Gandhi fought against the Britishrule which was preceded by the arrival of the East IndiaCompany. But now after 68 years of independence, the sameforeign investment is being welcomed.”

Should not let red tape limitIndo-US defence cooperation: Hagel

15 killed as rebel Maoistoutfits gun battle

● FP NEWS SERVICENeemuch

In yet another shocking in-cident, a five-year-old girlwas allegedly raped by a 15-year-old minor. Actingpromptly, the police havearrested the accused andsent him to Juvenile Home.The victim was playingwith her one and half year-old brother on Thursdayevening when her neigh-bour took her to his houseand raped her. When herbrother started crying,their mother came out andreached the accused’shouse but by that time theaccused had managed toflee leaving the girl in anunconscious state.Victim’s mother immedi-

ately reached the policestation along with herdaughter and lodged a com-plaint against the accused.Police sent the girl for med-ical check-up and after con-firmation of rape the com-plaint was registered.Sub-Inspector GV Bagoliand his team comprisingASI Harijani Singh, headconstable Akhilesh Ghong-hade, woman head consta-ble Sangeeta Chauhan, andconstable Lokesh Aryalaunched a search for theaccused and finally nabbedhim from Krishi Upaj Man-di Gate No 2. The accused was present-ed in the court fromw1here he was sent to juve-nile home, Ratlam till Au-gust 20.

Medininagar

An encounter took place be-tween two rebel outfits, Tri-tiya Prastuti Committee(TPC) and CPI (Maoist) inPalamau district in the earlyhours today, in which at least15 TPC men were killed, po-lice said, reports PTI. However, no body was re-covered and a search opera-tion is on, they said. “People of Kouriya villageinformed us that 15 or 16TPC Naxalites were killed bythe Maoists after an ex-change of gunfire. The vil-lagers said all the bodieswere carried away by otherTPC ultras who also tookaway the weapons of thedead,” Superintendent of

Police of neighbouring Late-har district, Michael S Rajsaid. Raj is leading the searchoperation for bodies as Pala-mau SP Y S Ramesh is onleave. Asked whether any ul-tra from the CPI (Maoist)was killed, he said they hadno information on that. Earlier, Deputy InspectorGeneral of Police (PalamauRange) Ravi Kant Dhan toldreporters here that the inci-dent occurred between 2 AMand 3 AM at a spot, about 55km from here. A couple of years ago, theTPC ultras had killed tenMaoists in neighbouringChatra district. The TPCis a splinter group of the CPI(Maoist).

Minor held for raping 5-yr-old