Sonia Gandhi: India's remote control?
By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 12 July 2011, 00:13 IST
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Sonia Gandhi: India's remote control?
Bangalore: Time and again the UPA government has been encountered with questions as to who is the real head of India, has Sonia Gandhi become an extra-constitutional authority with a remote control of India. In a recent interaction on June 30 with the media Manmohan Singh send the message clear and loud. He asserted that he is not helpless and is not a lame duck. BJP has often alleged the congress party and specially Sonia Gandhi as the real power or the game player behind Manmohan Singh's plan and actions. On April 10, 2011 the BJP state president, G. Kishan Reddy, has alleged that the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh has become a puppet in the hands of the UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi. Talking to reporters he said Dr Singh cannot take decisions on his own on administrative matters and hence should quit the post immediately. He further added that his incapability was manifest when he tried to rescue former minister A. Raja, the architect of the India's biggest scam the 2G spectrum. Back in April 02, 2010, the then BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman also made statements saying that BJP was upset with Sonia Gandhi's return as the head of National Advisory council as Sonia Gandhi was remotely controlling the UPA. Now she will control the Centre directly. With the prices going up, it is also proved that they are not concerned with the interests of the 'aam aadmi' that they claim. They only want the common man's vote. Corporate and Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid was also quoted saying in CNN-IBN on its one of the episodes of 'Devil's Advocate programme that Sonia Gandhi is the real power, but Manmohan Singh is the real Prime Minister. Khurshid's response came when he was asked whether the real power in India was Sonia Gandhi and not Singh. To a question on who between Gandhi and Singh decides whether a Minister continues in Cabinet or not, Khurshid said the Congress president and the Prime Minister decide it "together". When asked whether it is not an infringement of the prerogatives of the Prime Minister with Gandhi also joining him to take decision on a Cabinet Minister, Khurshid said that it is not an infringement. He said, "Of course he is a Prime Minister, he must take responsibility. But Sonia Gandhi is the leader of our party." In May 28, 2011, Arun Jaitley from BJP attributed the maladies facing the country, including threats of terrorism and infiltration from Bangladesh, corruption and price rise, to the divided nature of power. He said that the Prime Minister, who is the Constitutional authority to take decisions and wield authority, is not in a position to do so while another power centre is dictating terms, he said referring indirectly to the role of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Anti-graft activist Anna Hazare also targeted Congress president Sonia Gandhi saying the "remote control" is creating "problems" in drafting a ideal Lokpal Bill, even as he praised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a "good person". Not only political parties and social activists commented, ex-media advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sanjay Baru also touched off a controversy by saying that his former boss lacks the political authority that he needs to be effective. In an interview with NDTV, Sanjay Baru, the Ex PM media adviser said, "The essence is that the political authority that the prime minister must exercise, that he is unable to do because of the nature of the political arrangement. The PM is not just a political leader, he is not just the leader of his own party, he is a leader of the country and thereby there is a certain authority that he has which he then puts under disposal of the government to take certain difficult decisions." These are allegations that Congress party as a whole has been facing since the time Manmohan Singh came to power. We would like to know what are readers really think about this issue. Does the remote control of India really lies with Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh is just an actor, or they are just being the poor victim of dirty politics?

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