Congress clueless on Modi-fever cure

NEW DELHI: Having won the last Lok Sabha encounter hands down, according prime challenger status to BJP and its PM candidate Narendra Modi does not seem easy for Congress.


Despite signs that the 2014 odds might be different, Congress remains cagey while taking on the Gujarat CM who loses no opportunity to lash out at the Congress leadership.

As Modi steadily built up a frontrunner's position over the past months, Congress switched between ignoring the saffron strongman and criticizing his failure to prevent the 2002 Gujarat riots.

PM Manmohan Singh's "Modi will be a disaster for India as PM" indictment seems one-off while Digvijaya Singh's taunt over the CM's marital status or foreign minister Salman Khurshid's "impotent" dig highlight the inconsistency.

Rahul Gandhi has restricted himself to criticizing Modi for being a 'one-man show' while reserving a sharper comment for RSS, which has been accused of being complicit in Mahatma Gandhi's assassination.

Even after several backroom strategy sessions, Congress has not quite closed in on Modi who derisively runs down Rahul as "shehzada" and urges the BJP cadre to keep anti-Congress sentiments inflamed till voting day. The thinking in Congress circles seems to be that despite the crowds and media attention, BJP's prospects are restricted to a clutch of states where the saffron party hopes to do well. The rest is hype, due for a reality check.

Going by this reasoning, BJP is realistically in the reckoning on around 230 seats in states like Rajasthan, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Punjab, MP, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Uttar Pradesh is untested ground and BJP's returns here are by no means a done deal, feel Congress managers involved in planning Rahul's campaign pit stops.

On the face of it, the logic seems alluring as it highlights BJP's leap of faith in the Northeast, much of the east and south India. BJP will need a very high strike rate to reach the muchtalked about 200 seats, it is felt. Ignoring Modi or remaining in a reactive mode may give the Gujarati leader a chance to grab voters' mind space as he hammers away at Congress for corruption, price rise and poor governance.

Such a prospect worries some Congress leaders who feel there isn't much use denying the threat posed by the BJP leader who must be vigorously opposed on all fronts before Modi's perceived lead becomes unassailable.

There are no easy answers to Congress's dilemma as attacking Modi over alleged complicity in the 2002 riots has proved counterproductive in the past and lack of court strictures has emboldened his supporters. Some Congress leaders feel 2002 is Modi's weakest link while others have sporadically sought to undercut his development record as oversold. But here too the "feku" line seems to have been junked somewhere on the way.

Firing blanks at target NaMo

Solo player: Congress has often said Modi is an 'I, me, myself' act, not a team player. On Tuesday Rahul Gandhi fired a fresh salvo at Modi alluding to him as Hitler, a fascist, intolerant and uncaring of people's views. Someone who is a know-it-all.

Gujarat 2002 riots: PM Singh attacks Modi for "killing of innocents", but Cong does not consistently stick to the refrain. Some leaders criticize Modi for 2002 but the effort is sporadic. Sonia has used the "khoon ki kheti" metaphor and Rahul has said BJP practises "khoon ki rajniti" Sexed up CV Cong leaders have dug up stats to argue that Gujarat is not shining, human indicators are poor. Modi has countered that with his claim of 24x7 power and farm growth Feku tactics Congress accuses Modi of being careless or deliberately inaccurate about history and politics, that he is distorting issues like Sardar Patel's legacy. The Feku charge is not being pursued.

Personal issues: Congress has targeted Modi over his personal life, including snoopgate. But snoopgate is going nowhere and foreign minister Salman Khurshid got a rap on the knuckles for his 'impotent' remark.