Setu issue messed up, feels Cong

There is a growing feeling in the Congress that the party and the government have mishandled the Ram Setu issue, reports Saroj Nagi.

There is a growing feeling in the Congress that the party and the government have mishandled the Ram Setu issue.

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"First we file an affidavit in which we say that there is no evidence of Lord Ram's existence. Then we withdraw the affidavit. And now we have the spectacle of one minister seeking the resignation of another,'' said a senior Congress leader, alluding to Union Minister of State Jairam Ramesh's remarks that if he was the culture minister (which Ambika Soni is) he would have quit following the affidavit controversy.

He also expressed apprehension that the party may have to pay a price for this mishandling. “This issue has huge ramifications,” he added, noting the opposition parties were trying to use the controversial affidavit and the Sachar panel report to paint the Congress as anti-Hindu and pro-Muslim.

The Ram setu episode has provided yet another indication of Congress leaders and ministers talking at cross purposes, if not taking pot shots at each other. A day after Ramesh's anti-Soni remarks, former Union Minister Salman Khurshid came out in her support, saying that she cannot be held accountable for the controversial affidavit. .

According to an agency report, Khurshid said he had spoken to Soni and found she was "hurt" by Ramesh's remarks, which had come as "quite a surprise" to her. Both Khurshid and Ramesh were close to Soni when she was political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary before joining the Union Cabinet. Ramesh's comments are seen as a sign that he has distanced himself from Soni.

Some Congress leaders find the MoS's remarks surprising since AICC spokesman Abhishek Singhvi had officially said that an informal inquiry was being conducted to nail the guilty and the process was on to file a supplementary affidavit next week.