Congress, a family party
Ms Natarajan’s comment that Ms Vadra’s contesting elections would be good for the country does not quite jell with the party’s policy in the Karnataka polls.
By ET Bureau |
A newsreport said that when Jayanthi Natarajan was asked to comment on demands from local leaders in Moradabad that Priyanka Vadra contest from there in the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress spokesperson���s reply was ���It will be very beneficial. It will be very good and appropriate. She has an image. She is very popular among youth and women. It will be good for the country.���
Ms Natarajan went on to wish Priyanka ���all happiness and success��� on her birthday, January 12. Priyanka���s husband hails from Moradabad. However, the one thing Ms Natarajan did not touch on or was not asked about was the policy during the Karnataka assembly elections in May that tickets not be given to the kith and kin of Congress leaders or office-bearers.
Former railway minister Jaffer Sharief was so miffed about his grandson not being given a party ticket for the assembly polls that he even contemplated joining the BSP a few days before he was supposed to release the Congress manifesto for Karnataka and had to be persuaded by Sonia Gandhi to stay on.
Subsequently, on the eve of the Rajasthan assembly polls, Congress general secretary Margaret Alva had to resign after she told a TV news-channel that tickets had been sold, a comment some attributed to her unhappiness that her son was not allowed to contest in Karnataka.
Granted, TV coverage of the 2004 Lok Sabha polls showed Priyanka to be far more spontaneous on the campaign trail than her brother Rahul. The other day, macho movie star John Abraham told Times Now that Priyanka was the most attractive woman in the country.
However, Ms Natarajan���s comment that Ms Vadra���s contesting elections would be good for the country does not quite jell with the party���s policy in the Karnataka polls, which made Jaffer Sharief and Margaret Alva so unhappy. If rules are rules, even seasoned sycopohants would find it difficult to say that two MPs from the first family is company but that three is not a crowd!
Ms Natarajan went on to wish Priyanka ���all happiness and success��� on her birthday, January 12. Priyanka���s husband hails from Moradabad. However, the one thing Ms Natarajan did not touch on or was not asked about was the policy during the Karnataka assembly elections in May that tickets not be given to the kith and kin of Congress leaders or office-bearers.
Former railway minister Jaffer Sharief was so miffed about his grandson not being given a party ticket for the assembly polls that he even contemplated joining the BSP a few days before he was supposed to release the Congress manifesto for Karnataka and had to be persuaded by Sonia Gandhi to stay on.
Subsequently, on the eve of the Rajasthan assembly polls, Congress general secretary Margaret Alva had to resign after she told a TV news-channel that tickets had been sold, a comment some attributed to her unhappiness that her son was not allowed to contest in Karnataka.
Granted, TV coverage of the 2004 Lok Sabha polls showed Priyanka to be far more spontaneous on the campaign trail than her brother Rahul. The other day, macho movie star John Abraham told Times Now that Priyanka was the most attractive woman in the country.
However, Ms Natarajan���s comment that Ms Vadra���s contesting elections would be good for the country does not quite jell with the party���s policy in the Karnataka polls, which made Jaffer Sharief and Margaret Alva so unhappy. If rules are rules, even seasoned sycopohants would find it difficult to say that two MPs from the first family is company but that three is not a crowd!
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