An offer that was very easily refused

Some folks blame Nehru for their shortcomings, others Mayawati for theirs. If there was no Chacha or Behenji, they may have had to be invented. Luckily, for Rahul Gandhi, the BSP leader exists - even though, if election results are any indicator, barely. The middle-aged 'youth' leader who represents the Congress stated last Saturday that his party had offered an alliance with the BSP, 'even offering' Mayawati chief ministership - if that alliance had won the Uttar Pradesh elections, which saw these very two parties suffer even more than before. But, in Gandhi's words, the former UP CM 'did not even talk' to the Congress leadership. Boo-hoo.

But hell hath no fury like a scion scorned. Not stopping at accusing Mayawati of ingratitude, Gandhi accused the one-time BJP ally of facilitating the ruling party and ensuring the continuation of the Adityanath government because of 'the CBI, the ED and Pegasus' - this troika now joining Chacha and Behenji in the blame-game stakes. The fact that Gandhi made his comments at the launch of a book titled, 'The Dalit Truth: The Battles for Realising Ambedkar's Vision' may have something to do with his outburst almost a month after the Congress lost the electoral battle. Perhaps the truth is that, unlike the Corleones, the Gandhis made Mayawati an offer that she could all-too-easily refuse.