Down with COVID-19, Sonia Gandhi picks Ambika Soni to hoist tricolour at Congress headquarters

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who is down with Covid-19, picked Ambika Soni to do the honours of hoisting the Tricolour at the I-Day function at Congress headquarters, with some leaders informally pointing out that Soni, 79, is the "seniormost woman CWC member" .

Ironically, lined up among the senior leaders at the AICC function where Soni hoisted the Tricolour was the party stalwart Mohsina Kidwai, 90, who is not only among the eldest Congress leaders but also the one who, incidentally, defeated Soni in the battle for Meerut Lok Sabha seat in 1984, in which Soni (she had left the Indira/Sanjay-led Congress after the party's post-Emergency defeat before returning to party years later) as Janata Party nominee forfeited her deposit at fourth position.

However, some in Congress circles argued 'loyalist Soni' was a safe pick as, in the wake of PM's Red Fort speech, either Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Vadra hoisting the Tricolour would have exposed them to renewed 'dynast taunts'. And if seniormost CWC members Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mukul Wasnik or AICC general secretary (org) KC Venugopal would have done the honours, it would have led to loaded political interpretations against the backdrop of moves in Congress on selecting party president.


It is also learnt that Rahul Gandhi gave some Congress leaders his take on scriptures and was in a mood to 'critically assess' Swami Vivekananda, Arya Samaj and Hinduism during an informal interaction at the AICC committee room where, some said, he struck a "philosopher's mode". Later, many leaders including Azad, Anand Sharma, Kumari Selja, Rahul-Priyanka and party workers took out a march from 24 Akbar Road to Gandhi Smriti.