“We (congressmen) believe and hope that
Rahul Gandhi will assume a bigger role in the upcoming 2014 elections,” said
Senior Congressman Digvijaya Singh. The scam ridden UPA-II is leaving no stone
unturned in cleansing their tainted image for the 2014 elections. After
assuming power in 2009, almost everyday was an acid test to UPA-II who has been
trying their best to prevent the ship from sinking. In their efforts to prevent
sinking, their government started stinking with one scam after the other.
Commonwealth games, 2G scam, Coalgate scam, Land Mining and 3G Spectrum
Allocation are five night mares that are haunting them.
A system that is slower than the Saturn’s
revolution, A legislature that is incompetent and a Prime Minister whose
silence remains unbroken have all been guarding the numerous short comings of
UPA-II. UPA’s second stint has become one of the best and infamous examples of
the predicaments of a coalition of government. The scams on one side and the
TMC – The Mamta & Co. on the other side are a constant headache to them.
From the very beginning Trinamool Congress’ fickle mindedness and their
indecisiveness over every scheme proposed has driven the congress mad.
With less than twenty months for the
upcoming general elections, the buck stops here for the Congress who have so
far been successfully jumping all the hurdles that came their way. They have been severely criticised for the
unceremonious seven time price hike of fuel in the last three years, for
introducing a cap on the number of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders per
annum for every family, for allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in
multi-brand retail sector. On the Economic front, this government has ensured a
stable fall in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation. However, the
finance ministry releases a fancy statement saying that the GDP will be boosted
in the next quarter.
This government has the dubious distinction
of turning the profit-earning Railway Ministry debt ridden. Instead of hiking
the prices of those commodities and services that reach the government
exchequer directly, it has been hiking the prices of commodities that have
indirect pricing and taxation.
Regardless of all this, the word
‘austerity’ does not seem to exist in the lexicon of the Congress Government.
The recent UPA-II anniversary dinner where close to Rs. 25,000 per plate was
spent stands a testimony to that. If you thought UPA associates itself in only
loss of revenue to the government through improper allocation, you are wrong.
Indians have long forgotten the National shame where tons of wheat produce were
left to rot without proper distribution and warehousing facilities.
The Nation and UPA are well aware of the
fact that none of the existing leaders are spot-free to project them as Prime
Ministerial candidate for this election. Yet, Congress has been building its
dream castles in the air of pitching AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi as its
Prime Ministerial candidate. They are also well aware of the fact that they no
longer have the support of TMC, who were one of their major alliances in the
current tenure. With Team Anna Hazare sparking rumours of starting a new party
to curb corruption, the road ahead for 2014 seems very arduous and full of
speed-breakers for the Congress. Maybe we should wait and watch what Mama Sonia
Gandhi has to say about her son and Congress as she seems to be the only mouth
piece of the party irrespective of its spokesperson and the Prime Minister!
