There is an uneasy calm in the Congress after party chief Sonia Gandhi’s diktat to her colleagues to refrain from speaking out of turn on the Ram Setu issue.
After asking Culture Minister Ambika Soni to resign over the filing of a controversial affadivit that questioned the existence of
Lord Ram, her colleague Jairam Ramesh apologised to her.
He called her up to urge her to let "bygones be bygones" and said he continued to be her friend. Soni refused to comment on the apology.
Ramesh was once a close associate of Soni when she was the Congress president’s political secretary and general secretary in the AICC set up.
In a bid to cap the controversy, both Ramesh and Soni refrained from speaking to the media though veteran leader RK Dhawan stuck to his statement that it would have been better if Soni had resigned on moral grounds.
On her part, Soni has sought an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to explain her position on the controversial issue. The PM, who was in hospital for an operation, was discharged on Tuesday.