New Delhi: After persistently targeting Narendra Modi, Congress put up an air of nonchalance over his anointment as Prime Ministerial candidate, saying developments in any other party do not concern it even as its top brass held deliberations on the way ahead.
“We simply cannot be bothered”, party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury told reporters when asked how it sees the Gujarat Chief Minister as the PM candidate of the BJP.
The remarks came just hours after the party accused RSS of forcing a decision on BJP over declaring Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate. “A Nagpur-based shadowy cabal of unaccountable geriatric gentlemen in period attire can ram decisions down BJP’s throat and call it internal democracy,” I&B Minister Manish Tewari alleged in a tweet.
The Congress Core Group, comprising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party chief Sonia Gandhi and others senior leaders, met for the first time after Soniai’s return from the foreign visit for a medical check up.
The meeting lasted for half an hour but there was no official word on what transpired.
However, an indication of the party’s revised strategy in the wake of Modi’s declaration as BJP’s PM candidate was clear when Chowdhary said at the AICC briefing that Congress was “simply not bothered” who becomes what in the main Opposition party and that Congress would go to people on the basis of its policies and programmes.
Chowdhury posed the question as to how the development can affect the party. “How does it make a difference? How does it matter to us?” (PTI)