Rahul will be around even if Congress loses, but not Narendra Modi: Jairam Ramesh

NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi will be history if he loses the 2014 elections, but Rahul Gandhi will still be around if Congress is defeated, Union minister Jairam Ramesh has said. "If Modi loses 2014, his bubble is burst."

While the allusion was possibly to the age of the contenders for prime ministership, the formulation was immediately seized upon by BJP as an acknowledgement of the fact that Congress would lose the elections. BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said, "Ramesh has accepted defeat in 2014. Even before starting the battle, they have conceded defeat. Ramesh's cursing that Modi will be finished will not happen. This is exasperation and frustration."

Ramesh added that Rahul was working on a long-term strategy which was frustrating since there was an immediate task at hand of contesting elections. "My frustration is that he is too forward-looking. He is talking of structure, systems; he's talking of building up Congress in the long term whereas we are now faced with fi ghting an election in the short term," a news channel showed Ramesh as saying.

The comment tied in with Rahul's criticism by a section of the party that he was too focused on the nitty gritty of organizational revamp and not looking at the big electoral contest that lay ahead.

Congress fought shy of reacting to Ramesh's comments, possibly aware that the remarks, even if made to back the young party leader, could be interpreted negatively. AICC spokesman Meem Afzal parried queries, saying he had failed to clarify the comments with the rural development minister.

Ramesh's bid to show that 2014 was not a question of life and death for Rahul as it was for the BJP's PM candidate may have referred to the age of the two leaders, but it appeared to allude to the fact that the young Gandhi remained an all-accepted leader within his organization while there was a big section in BJP unhappy with Modi's climb.