Madam's a ticket to 'narak': Jairam

The ebullient economic think-tank of the Congress, Jairam Ramesh is always good for pithy epigrammatic utterances. But the last one bit too close to the bone. In a party which its rivals say is devoid of democracy and on a sure path to self-destruction, Mr Jairam's quotable quote' has landed him in the proverbial soup. And may eventually toss him out of the boat.

Nothing short of blasphemy, thundered outraged loyalists. Mr Jairam, prudently, stayed out of the spotlight today, but made it abundantly clear that he was not going to retract a reported statement in Asiaweek about the workings of the grand old party of India. Saying that if things continued the way they are going, the Congress would not return to power for another 50 years, the damning indictment read thus: "The hype generated when Sonia became the Congress president has settled down. The mood has swung from one extreme to the other. People who saw her as a ticket to nirvana now see her as a ticket to narak (hell)".

While the AICC establishment is still reeling from the shock sentence, there has been a silent support brigade admitting, wryly, the unfortunate truth of the opinion. Even the most committed loyalist will grant the extremely prickly nature of the 10, Janpath leadership. So, will the only solution be to give Mm the boot? A section of opinion within the party circles would agree. Unless, of course, he backs down completely and denies the statements attributed to him. Sev-eral leaders, while appearing inclined to admit that things were not too well with the party, however, were in no doubt that Mr Jairam had crossed the "laxmanrekha" this time.

With no clarification forthcoming from Mr Ramesh throughout the day, it only appeared that he was readying himself for the inev itable. He did make it known to friends that he was in no mood to retract the statements attributed to him, though Congress circles maintained that it would only be just to allow him an opportunity to clarify before deciding on any form of action. Party circles contend that Mr Ramesh was upset with Sonia Gandhi after she refused to oblige him with a Rajya Sabha ticket from Karnataka recently, which he had been hoping for.
 

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