The controversy over handling of the Ramdev issue refuses to die down despite attempts by the Congress and the government to project a united face.
After AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh and the party mouthpiece Congress Sandesh, it was the turn of senior leader Mr Vasant Sathe to dub as “ridiculous” the visit of four senior ministers to the airport to receive the yoga guru on June 1.
“It was not proper. The whole thing was ridiculous as the government behaviour oscillated like a pendulum from laying the red carpet to the crackdown by the police. One does not understand the rationale,” he said.
Dubbing the handling of the whole issue as “making a self goal,” he told PTI that he had never heard any such incident during the tenure of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi or Pandit Nehru.
Mr Digvijay Singh has already said that he was “saddened” that the four ministers led by Mr Pranab Mukherjee went to the airport to receive Ramdev, wh-ile the editorial in the latest issue of Congress Sandesh has also confirmed the div-ide between the party and the government on the issue. The AICC has tried to wriggle out of the matter by saying that the editorial was the “personal view” of editor Anil Shastri, who is a special invitee to the Congress working committee.
Mr Sathe utilised the situation caused by the controversy to re-emphasise the need for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to become active in politics and Congress President Sonia Gandhi along with Rahul Gandhi as also Priyanka to embark on a mass contact programme.
On Ramdev’s demand for a directly-elected PM, Mr Sathe said that some three decades back he had also campaigned for a Presidential form of government in the country but the idea found no takers in the political class.