Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday refused to attach any importance to speculation that he will be the party’s Prime Minister candidate, nor did he comment on the rising number of PM aspirants in other parties.
He also disapproved of the “hero-worshipping” trend, saying the view that “one person charging on a horse” could fix all problems was wrong. “No, it is not like that,” he said.
“I got press guys asking: when are you getting married? Somebody else says, boss, when are you going to be Prime Minister? Somebody saying ‘no, you are not going to be PM’, someone else saying ‘maybe you will be PM... there is a good possibility”.
He added: “It’s like the American polling charts: a 47.3 per cent possibility that he might be Prime Minister...”
Rahul added: “These are irrelevant questions... It’s all smoke... The only relevant question in this country is: how can we give our people voice”.
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Govt yields some control of sugar
Age Correspondent
New Delhi, April 4
The government on Thursday decided to partially decontrol sugar manufacturing and its supply by giving millers the freedom to sell in the open market and also unshackle them from the obligation of supplying the commodity at subsidised rates for ration shops.
The decision by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs will help the industry save about `3,000 crore annually, but the burden to the exchequer will be `5,300 crore annually. Refuting expectations that the decision would lead to a rise in retail prices of sugar, the government maintained it would provide the required cushion by taking the subsidy burden from the present `2,600 crore to `5,300 crore.
