President Pratibha Patel's antics not acceptable

First concern

Sir — In what could be a shameful episode in national politics and a degradation of the office of the first citizen, the Congress is faced with an acid test to prove that the president is above politics (“President plays, Cong sweats”, Sept 23). The initiative taken by Pratibha Patil to pressurize the party to give an electoral ticket to her son, Rajendra Shekhawat, for the Maharashtra assembly elections is a blatant abuse of the office of the president.

It appears that Congress is persuading the sitting member of the legislative assembly of Amravati, Sunil Deshmukh, to step down in order to accommodate Patil’s unjustified demand. The Congress acknowledges the popularity of the present MLA, but it is also conscious of the risk of evoking the first lady’s wrath if it acts otherwise.

The Congress should know that belligerence on Deshmukh’s part may prove costly to its rejuvenated image. The president is beyond party affiliation. The oath taken by the president states this very clearly and it should be recapitulated for Patil if she has forgotten it, blinded by the love for her son. This issue may become the talk of the next Parliamentary session and the Opposition will leave no stone unturned to stall the proceedings. Sonia Gandhi should nip the issue in the bud before the party is engulfed in controversy, and save the dignity of the presidential chair.

Yours faithfully,
P. Bhattacharya, Ichapore, North 24 Parganas


Sir — It is alleged that Pratibha Patil had pressurized the Congress selection panel to allow her son, Rajendra Shekhawat, to stand as a candidate from Amravati in place of Sunil Deshmukh. If there is even an iota of truth in these allegations, then they amount to highly objectionable behaviour, and misuse of power by the president. They would diminish the country’s image before the world.

Yours faithfully,
Wazir Hossain, Calcutta

President Pratibha Patel's foisting her son on the Congress party has not been taken kindly by the general mass as is evident in the above two letters which were published in The Telegraph of today.
This is only from the paper I take.
The same reaction must have taken place in all other papers