Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

India-Pakistan

'If this is how India behaves with its own, what expectation can Pakistan have?' asks FM Qureshi

2019-08-25

[DAWN] Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Wormtongue Qureshi

...a Pak political shape-changer. He is undistinguished except for his habit of periodically needing to have his lips reattached...
on Saturday drew attention to the increasingly apparent divisions within India after an 11-member contingent of its opposition parties was prevented from visiting Srinagar, questioning what can realistically be expected in terms of a dialogue over the disputed territory of Kashmir
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
"This is the true face of the Indian government which the world is witnessing today," said the foreign minister as he addressed a presser in Islamabad.

"Today the fascist
fascist

...anybody you disagree with, damn them...
attitude of the Modi administration was demonstrated at the Srinagar airport," he said, referring to the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders being barred from entering Srinagar shortly after they landed.

"I call upon democratic nations of the world to view that footage [of the airport]. When they treat their own this way, what expectation can we [Pakistain] have from holding a dialogue with them?" said Qureshi.

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India-Pakistan

India promises easing of restrictions, food for occupied Kashmir residents for Eidul Azha

2019-08-12

[DAWN] Authorities in Indian Kashmir
Kashmir

...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
e say that restrictions ‐ that had been in place since last week ‐ have been eased in most parts of Srinagar ahead of the Eidul Azha festival following India's decision to strip the region of its constitutional autonomy.

Magistrate Shahid Choudhary in a tweet says that more than 250 ATMs have been made functional and bank branches have opened for people to withdraw money ahead of Monday's Eidul Azha, that falls on Monday.

There has been no immediate independent confirmation of reports by authorities on Sunday that people are visiting shopping areas for festival purchases as all communications and the internet remain cut off.

The Kashmir Media Service, however, has reported that the curfew is still in place and the occupied region continues to face a blackout for the seventh day.

Gov Satya Pal Malik said in interviews with television networks that there would be easing of restrictions and adequate essential supplies for Monday's Eidul Azha festival.

His comments came as India's main opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday demanded a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation in occupied Kashmir, saying there are reports of violence and people dying.

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India-Pakistan

Sonia Gandhi elected leader of Congress lawmakers in Lok Sabha

2019-06-02

At the rate they’re going, it’s like being leader of Israel’s Labour party or Britain’s Tories.

[DAWN] United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi was elected the leader of 52 Congress politicians in Lok Sabha, Hindustan Times reported on Saturday.

According to Hindustan Times, the decision was announced at a parliamentary party meeting of the Congress held a week after Rahul Gandhi announced his decision to quit the post following the debacle he faced in the general election that saw the Narendra Modi-led NDA coming to power with 352 of the 542 seats polled.

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India-Pakistan

Ballots & blood

2019-03-08

[DAWN] WHY do Indian voters need to ink their ballot papers with the blood of Paks?

Mrs Indira Gandhi tried this ploy to secure a landslide victory in the 1970s, and succeeded. Mr Narendra Modi repeated the trick, and failed. Gradually, Prime Minister Modi’s bellicosity has revealed the extent to which he will go to retain a majority in the Lok Sabha. He entered India’s parliament first five years ago. He intends not to leave it until at least May 2024, if not beyond, whatever the cost to his country.

His latest ruse ‐ a ’pre-emptive’ IAF attack on Balakot within Pakistain’s territory ‐ may well be his Kargil
... three months of unprovoked Pak aggression, over 4000 dead Paks, another victory for India ...
. He has sought to erase this Himalayan miscalculation by declaring with imperial disdain that he and India are one, aping Mrs Gandhi’s slogan: ’India is Indira; Indira is India.’ Such hubris is costly. A BJP-led coalition may return to power but deny Mr Modi entry into the prime minister’s office.

Ironically, he may have assured Imran Khan
... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight...
a second term as Pakistain’s prime minister, and an extension for Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa as COAS. After May 2019, any Indian prime minister will have to deal with the growing sagacity of one buttressed by the iron tenacity of the other.

Napoleon once asked whether a particular marshal was lucky. Prime Minister Modi needs luck and success, and both are eluding him. While his government coerces India’s plasticine press into improbable postures of patriotism, he is being hounded by the opposition. Over 20 significant parties, led by Rahul/Sonia Gandhi’s Indian National Congress, have challenged Prime Minister Modi, accusing him of "blatant politicisation of sacrifices of armed forces by the ruling party". It is an unprecedented indictment, a parliamentary revolt during wartime.

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India-Pakistan

Those who shelter terrorists can’t be spared: PM

2016-10-12

[Daily Excelsior] Breaking from tradition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today attended the historic Ramlila celebrations here where he launched a veiled attack on Pakistain, saying those who help and provide shelter to forces of Evil cannot be spared, but made no reference to the surgical strikes.

Making terrorism the centrepoint of his over 20-minute speech, he said terror was the worst enemy of humanity and called upon the world community to speak in one voice against the menace to put an end to it.

"Terrorism does not have any boundaries. It is bound to destroy all...A need has arisen to root out those who spread terrorism. Those who help forces of Evil and provide shelter to them can no longer be spared," he said in an obvious reference to Pakistain without taking its name.

"Terrorism is against humanity. The entire world is being destroyed...If you think that we are insulated against terrorism, then we are wrong. It is a virus affecting our societies. All forces across the world have to talk in one voice and end it. It will not be possible to save humanity without eradicating terrorism," the Prime Minister said.

"The forces of humanism should unite globally to end the menace," he said.

Modi became the first Prime Minister to attend a Ramlila event outside Delhi and his participation at the Aishbagh celebrations assumes significance in the context of Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh early next year.

The theme of this year’s Dussehra here was ’destruction of terrorism’. In the run up to the event today, there have been many references to the surgical strikes by characters enacting Ramlila.

In significant gestures, Modi was presented a Sudarshan Chakra, bow and arrow and a mace at the event, symbolising valour.

At the Delhi event at Ramlila Maidan, as usual, President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were present.

"No one should have this misunderstanding that they are safe from terrorism as terrorism has no boundary, no morality, it can go anywhere and it is bent upon crushing humanity...It is essential for all to come together against terrorism," Modi said.

"The entire world is being harmed. For the last two days we are seeing the picture of a little girl of Syria....And so today, when we are buring Ravana, all human forces as one will have to resolve to fight terrorism as humanity cannot be saved without bringing an end to it," he said.

Modi recalled his meeting with a top US official who had then not recognised terrorism as a problem and had instead termed it as a law and order issue. He said the world’s perspective towards terrorism changed after 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

He also urged the people to remain vigilant against terrorists, saying their attempts to carry out attacks can be thwarted by alert citizens.

While celebrating Dussehra, which signifies victory of good over evil, the Prime Minister said Lord Rama represented humanity and its rich values and traditions.

He said the first person to fight terror was neither a soldier nor a politician, but the mythological bird Jatayu who fought against Ravana to protect a helpless Sita, whom he was trying to kidnap.

Noting that war at times becomes inevitable due to prevailing circumstances, he said India is a country which follows the principles of peace as taught by Lord Buddha.

"We balance between the Mohan of the Sudarshan Chakra, and the Mohan of the Charkha (Mahatma Gandhi)...We are the people who have seen yudhh (war) and Buddha. We can go from yudh to Buddha. Buddha’s path (of peace) should be our final path," he said.

Terming castiesm, communalism and nepotism as the forms of social evils present inside people, he said and there is a need to get rid of these ’Ravanas’.

Modi said on one side the country was celebrating Vijay Dashmi and on the other the world was observing the day of the girl child today and called upon people to end the menace of female infanticide and feoticide.

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India-Pakistan

Beyond the Nehruvian consensus

2014-06-21

Through the long era of the "Nehruvian consensus", Indian policymakers enjoyed a favourite occupation: introspection.

Every problem needed introspection. Every setback called for introspection. Every initiative required introspection.

After over 60 years of introspection, we have policymakers who still advise — yes — further introspection.

The new Indian government has laid the Nehruvian consensus to rest. Action and outcomes count. Introspection is fine. But too much of it can lead to sclerotic inertia.

Can an outcome-focused government lose sight of first principles? The Nehruvian consensus had three guiding dictums: socialism, secularism and non-alignment.

Socialism fell apart under Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh (when he was finance minister) and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It was revived by Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh (when he was Prime Minister).

Instead of growing the economy and then distributing its benefits inclusively, the Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh government did the exact opposite. The fiscal crisis is the result of failed economic socialism.

The Nehruvian consensus on secularism (introduced into the Constitution along with socialism by Indira Gandhi during the Emergency in 1976) descended into farce under Rajiv Gandhi following the Shah Bano case in 1985-86.

Muslims have since become poorer than even Dalits. Communal polarization began not with LK Advani's rath yatra in 1990 but with Rajiv's terrible blunder over Shah Bano five years earlier.

The third pillar of the Nehruvian consensus, non-alignment, fell with the Berlin wall 25 years ago. In a unipolar world dominated by the United States, strategic policy requires India to be a regional leader, not part of an amorphous non-aligned bloc.

Jairam Ramesh recently compared Narendra Modi to Richard Nixon — the US President who opened up China to American blandishments at the height of the Cold War.

Weaning China away from the Soviet Union into a position of equidistance with the US was achieved by both Nixon and Henry Kissinger.

Can Modi do the same with China over Pakistan?

Modi's visit to Bhutan was calibrated to achieve several key ends. Bhutan has conducted over 25 rounds of border talks with China since 1986. The next round of talks between the two countries is scheduled in July/August.

India sought and got an assurance in Thimpu that vulnerable border areas in the north and the east will not be compromised during the China-Bhutan talks.

India's own border dispute with China in Arunachal and Ladakh can then progress without unnecessary impediments.

China's growing concern over Islamist militancy in its northwestern Xinjiang province is a lever India will use to focus Chinese minds on restraining terrorism bred in Pakistan's fertile jihadi soil.

As events in Karachi have shown terrorism, like water, is fungible. It can drown its creators and damage its neighbours. China has no wish to allow further Islamist radicalization of Xinjiang, where Muslim Uighars speak a Turkic dialect. China earlier this week executed 13 terrorists for a series of attacks by Uighars in Xinjiang.

The emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) has further underscored the dangers Sunni jihadism poses to the world.

ISIS was initially funded by wealthy individual donors in Sunni Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states to weaken Shia-majority Iran and Iraq (which is 60% Shia, 20% Sunni and 20% Kurd).

Like all Frankensteins — including Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Taliban — ISIS has now become a menace to its sponsors. It could in future threaten the Saudi Wahhabi princelings and spread its brand of unspeakable brutality from the Middle-East to north-west India.

ISIS will eventually be defeated by moderate Sunni rebel factions in Syria and Iraq once Iraq's blundering Shia prime minister Nouri al-Maliki gives minority Sunnis a role in his government. ISIS's lightning advance towards Baghdad has warned the world against allowing the culture of jihadism free rein. A rattlesnake has to be defanged before it spreads its poison.

India has long punched below its geopolitical weight. A colonial inferiority complex, corrupt governments and chronic misgovernance since, especially, 2004 have eroded India's ability to influence events outside its own sphere.

The new government must change that. How?

The three Abrahamic religions — Christianity, Islam and Judaism — have been the fount of global conflict for centuries. India's post-Nehruvian consensus must deal with the embers of that conflict by evolving a robust strategic doctrine. A future article will expand on that and more.

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India-Pakistan

Learn lessons from rout: Sonia

2014-05-25

[The Peninsula] Congress President Sonia Gandhi, re-elected chairperson of Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) yesterday, asked party leaders not to indulge in "public acrimony" over the party's worst Lok Sabha results for which appropriate lessons need to be learnt.

Addressing a meeting of CPP, she acknowledged "there was widespread anger against us which we failed to adequately gauge" and asked party MPs to be "vigilant watchdogs" in their role in the opposition.

Party leaders said Gandhi will soon decide the names of leaders of opposition in the two houses of parliament.

Gandhi's remarks about the need for the partymen to stop bickering through media comes against the backdrop of a blame game in the party over its worst electoral defeat -- with its tally reduced to only 44 seats while it did not win a single seat in some states - with some leaders taking potshots at "Team Rahul Gandhi".

Her son and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi led the Congress campaign in the election. In her speech, Sonia Gandhi said she was asked by the Congress Working Committee (CWC) to take all steps necessary to revamp the organization at all levels.

"Your inputs, your experience and your assessment of our strengths and weaknesses, rather than public acrimony, will be critical to the exercise," she said.

In an apparent message to party parliamentarians, including her own son who was also present at the meet, Sonia Gandhi said that being in the opposition means regular attendance, more hours inside the house and more study of subjects.

"It means asking more questions, raising more issues, initiating more debates, always being the vigilant watchdog and defending principles of the Congress."

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India-Pakistan

Maoist ~~terrorists~~ rebels kill 23 in India ambush

2013-05-27

Not all terrorists are Islamicist...

A heavily-armed gang of nearly 300 Maoist rebels killed at least 23 people in an attack on a convoy carrying local Congress party leaders and supporters in central India, police said.

The attack on Saturday was the deadliest in three years and the latest in a long-simmering conflict that pits the left-wing insurgents against authorities in the forests of mainly central and eastern India. State Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh, and former state home minister Mahendra Karma who had set up a controversial anti-Maoist group in 2005 were among those killed in the mine and gun attack in a remote tribal belt of Chhattisgarh state.

The total number of dead now stands at 23. We can also confirm that 32 people are injured, most of them seriously, state police director-general Ramniwas, who goes by one name, said.

Former federal minister Vidya Charan Shukla was badly injured and had been airlifted to New Delhi in serious condition, said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who flew to the state capital Raipur late on Saturday. The 84-year-old Shukla, a veteran Congress parliamentarian, was being treated by a team of doctors at a private hospital on the outskirts of the capital.

The rebels triggered a land-mine before opening fire at the convoy of Congress party workers and leaders who were leaving the area after a political rally, police said. At least five policemen also lost their lives in the attack in the Jagdalpur area of Bastar district, 375 kilometres (233 miles) south of Raipur.

When our cars reached a turning point, the Naxals started firing, an injured Congress worker told NDTV, referring to the rebels also known as Naxalites. Two cars were blown up and the firing continued for almost one and a half hours. Many people were killed and many sustained bullet injuries. Some of us lay on the road to save ourselves.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, who has condemned the incident as shocking, rushed to Raipur along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take stock of the situation.

Singh, who has described the Maoists as the countrys most serious internal security threat, said the ambush should spur the battle against extremists.

Those who have lost their lives in this barbaric attack are martyrs of democracy, he said after visiting the wounded in hospital Sunday.

Maoist rebels have been operating mainly in rural areas of central and eastern India since 1967. They demand land and jobs for the poor, and want to establish a communist society by overthrowing what they call Indias semi-colonial, semi-feudal form of rule.

The revolt is believed to have cost tens of thousands of lives. In April 2010 a rebel assault killed 76 policemen in the state, where the Congress party is the main opposition.

Three policemen were killed a fortnight ago when Maoists launched an overnight attack on a state-run broadcaster in Chhattisgarh. And last week a policeman and eight villagers were killed in a shootout between rebels and security forces.

Eleven policemen were killed in March last year in a landmine blast in the western state of Maharashtra near the border with Chhattisgarh.

In 2009 government forces launched a huge anti-Maoist offensive known as Operation Green Hunt, but the often poorly-trained police have had to contend with a deadly series of attacks.

Critics believe attempts to end the revolt through security offensives are doomed to fail, saying the real solution is better governance and development.

Narendra Modi, senior leader of the main national opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, slammed the attack and called for unity against naxalism.

The need of the hour is to stand together as a nation and vow to fight this menace that threatens our democracy, he said on Twitter.

But Congress has called for a general strike in Chhattisgarh on Monday to press for the dismissal of the BJP state government for failing to prevent the attack.

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India-Pakistan

Italy says will send marines back to India for trial

2013-03-22

ROME Italy said two marines on trial for murder in India would return to the country by Friday, a stunning turnaround after Rome earlier unleashed a diplomatic furore by saying they would not go back.

Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, granted special leave last month by an Indian court to return to Italy to vote in elections, had skipped bail.

The government said on Thursday it had received "ample assurances" from Indian authorities "on the treatment that the marines will receive and the defence of their fundamental rights.

"The government decided, also in the interests of the marines, to maintain the commitment taken when they were granted leave to take part in the elections to return to India by March 22," it said.

"The marines agreed to this decision," it added.

Outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti met with Defence Minister Giampaolo Di Paola and Steffan de Mistura, a junior foreign minister who has taken a lead on the case, to discuss the issue on Thursday.

De Mistura said the decision was a "difficult" one.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said he appreciated the "sense of responsibility" displayed by the two marines.

The government had announced on March 11 that the marines would not return from their leave.

Italy insists the marines should be prosecuted in their home country because the shootings involved an Italian-flagged vessel in international waters. India says the killings took place in waters under its jurisdiction.

The two are accused of having shot dead two Indian fishermen they mistook for pirates off the Indian port of Kochi last year. They were serving as security guards on an Italian oil tanker.

After Italy said the marines would not return, Indian authorities forbade Italy's ambassador to New Delhi, Daniele Mancini, from leaving the country, saying he had broken a written promise.

Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born head of India's ruling party, had accused Rome of an unacceptable "betrayal", and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had warned Italy that there would be "consequences".

Italy had accused India of violating international laws on diplomatic immunity as the Indian Supreme Court issued a decision requiring Mancini to seek the court's permission to leave the country.

New Delhi also put its airports on alert to prevent Mancini from leaving.

Without legal protection he could be prosecuted for contempt of court.

A lawyer for the Italian government argued that Mancini still enjoyed diplomatic immunity and freedom of movement under international rules contained in the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Tuesday defended Mancini, saying diplomatic immunity "should be respected at all times". Limiting his movement "would be contrary" to international obligations, she said.

Italy said it was trying to find a way out of the dispute that would satisfy both sides.

"The Italian government is working on a friendly agreement with India based on international law," Italian President Giorgio Napolitano's office said in a statement.

Relations between the two countries have also been soured by corruption allegations surrounding a $748 million deal for the purchase of 12 Italian helicopters, which the Indian government is now threatening to scrap.

The case of the marines caused more uproar in the local assembly of southwestern Kerala, the home state of the dead fishermen.

The opposition Communist party walked out of the assembly after their demand for an urgent discussion on how the Italian marines had been allowed to return home was dismissed by the ruling party.

"It's a shame on India that this case was dealt with casually," senior Communist leader P.K. Gurudasan told AFP.

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India-Pakistan

Rahul says power is poison, but he's accepting it for the poor

2013-01-22

[Dawn] In an emotional speech after taking over the mantle as Congress party's vice-president in Jaipur on Sunday, Rahul Gandhi told his cheering supporters that power was poison, but he was accepting it to empower the poor.

"Last night each one of you congratulated me. My mother came to my room and she sat with me and she cried... because she understands that power so many people seek is actually a poison," Mr Gandhi said.

He was speaking at the All India Congress Committee session where he was unofficially anointed as a prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 elections.

"We should not chase power for the attributes of power. We should only use it to empower the voices"

Striking a personal note, the 42-year-old leader in his maiden address as party vice-president, recalled the moments when his mother and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi walked into his room at night.

He recalled the time his grandmother, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, was assassinated in 1984 by security guards with whom he used to play badminton as 'friends' and how his father Rajiv Gandhi, who was himself "broken inside", showed a "glimmer of hope" to the people.

The young leader received a standing ovation from the audience, which included his mother and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as he said: "We should not chase power, only use it to empower others."

He said his mother could see that power was poison "because she is not attached to it. The only antidote to this poison for all of us is to see what it really is and not become attached to it. We should not chase power for the attributes of power. We should only use it to empower the voices."

Mr Gandhi recalled that as a little boy, "he loved to play badminton. I loved it because it gave me balance in this complicated world. I was taught how to play in my grandmother's house by two coppers who protected my grandmother as my friends.

"Then one day they killed my grandmother and took away the balance from my life. I felt like I had not felt before."

He recalled how he knew his father was "broken inside" and "terrified of what lay in front of him".

"My father was in Bengal and he came back.... It was the first time in my life that I saw my father crying. He was the bravest person I knew and yet I saw him cry. I could see... I was small, but I could see my father was broken. They had taken away his mother and he was broken. In those days our country was not what it is today."

Until 1984, before his father took power, India was considered to be a worthless country. "In the eyes of the world we had nothing, we were worthless.... Nobody thought about us. That same evening I saw my father addressing the nation on TV. I know like me he was broken inside. I know like me he was terrified of what lay in front of him. As he spoke in that dark night, I felt a small glimmer of hope."

He said that he realised he had a big responsibility in front of him and that people were standing behind him.

"Congress party is now my life, people of India are my life. I will fight for people of India and for this party. I will fight with everything that I have."

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Home Front: WoT

Blood is offered, by doting Rahul Gandhi brigade, for him

2013-01-21

[India Express] Rahul Gandhi may like his appointment as Congress vice-president to be seen as the rise of youth and a harbinger of change in the party. However, at the AICC meeting on Sunday at least, it was hard to spot either.
Another political dynast, from an even less distinguished lineage than the Bhutto boy.
In their speeches, Youth Congress as well as NSUI leaders showed unmistakable continuity in the culture of sycophancy in the ruling party.

Youth Congress as well as NSUI leaders showed unmistakable continuity in the culture of sycophancy in the ruling party

Some even outmatched party veterans, promising to shed their blood to match the sweat of "desh ke yuvaon ki dhadkan (the heart-throb of the youth)" Rahul Gandhi. Others promised that for him, "jawani luta denge (sacrifice their youth)".

It was Uttar Pradesh PCC chief Nirmal Khatri, a Rahul appointee, who set the tone, exhorting Congress president Sonia Gandhi to "hand over your powers" to Rahul to ensure timely and quick decisions. Next speaker Amarinder Singh Raja, a Youth Congress leader from Punjab, followed it up saying, "A new revolution will come in the country under Rahul Gandhi."

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India-Pakistan

Sonia Gandhi recovering after surgery

2011-08-15

Potentially important to the US: Ms. Gandhi is the leader of the Congress Party in India and thus a very influential stateswoman. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi was on Friday recovering in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a US hospital where she underwent successful surgery for an undisclosed ailment.

The party today issued a brief statement that 64-year-old Gandhi underwent a surgery on August 4 and the surgeon has indicated that the surgery has been successful. At present, Gandhi is in ICU, a statement by Congress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said.

However, the statement did not disclose what was the surgery and the hospital and the country where it was performed.

Gandhi is reportedly in the US for the surgery. Children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and son-in-law Robert Vadra are with Gandhi, the party said.

Gandhi had decided that in her absence a group comprising Rahul Gandhi and senior leaders AK Antony, Ahmed Patel and Dwivedi will look after party affairs. Significance is attached to the fact that Rahul will form part of the of the committee that has only one senior minister of the government and two leaders from the organisation.

Asked to explain the absence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee from the group, Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari had said on Thursday they (the Prime Minister and finance minister) are senior members who have been active in the organisation for long.

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