A Letter to Nandan Nilekani before he asumes being PM candidate of Congress Party

NEW DELHI: Congress today dismissed as "hypothetical" talk of Nandan Nilekani being made the PM candidate, maintaining that it was for the high command to choose Rahul Gandhi or any other leader.

Party spokesman Sandeep Dikshit also said that "Rahul Gandhi has lot of support and lot many of us consider him our leader" but feigned ignorance about the possibility of his being made the PM candidate.

He also brushed aside suggestions that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could be replaced in wake of the poll drubbing, insisting that party has already made it clear that he will complete his term.

"I don't know from where this talk (about Nilekani) has come. That a newspaper has said this does not necessarily mean it is the information of Congress.The Congress President has said that the PM candidate will be announced at an appropriate time", Dikshit told reporters while replying to a volley of questions on the issue.

"I am not privy to the information whether Nandan Nilekani is being considered or not considered...I don't know the sources of the information and from where it has come. I do not believe in its substance. I have never heard of it before this article came...Right now it is hypothetical," the Congress spokesperson said.

He said he has absolutely no idea of the talk about Nilekani before this article appeared. A newspaper article spoke of the possibility of Nilekani as a wild card entry as Congress PM candidate for the next general elections given the background of his being a successful technocrat with clean image.

A number of party leaders, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it is unlikely but Dikshit chose to play safe in the official briefing. "...But I can say with confidence that whoever the high command decides would be among the best and one who is competent to lead", he said when asked whether the Congress President's statement meant that Rahul would not be the candidate.

"Mr Gandhi or someone (else) it is for the high command to decide...But I can say Mr Gandhi has lot of support and lot many of us consider him our leader," he said.

Dikshit, at the same time, said that he was "not suggesting anything".

Dear Mr. Nandan Nilekani,

I read the above news item with consternation.

There is an old English proverb, "Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread".

Anybody calling you a fool would be a fool himself for we know all your accomplishments.

However, it is good to be forewarned.

Manmohan Singh too was a very accomplished person before he was anointed Prime Minister of India by Sonia Gandhi. His CV would be the envy of any person and as Finance Minister of India during P V Narasimha Rao's time, he had turned around the Indian economy.

How?

By being given a free hand by Mr. Rao.

When you want a person to lose in a fight he is asked to fight with one hand tied.

Manmohan Singh has been asked to govern with one hand always in his pocket and mouth sealed.

Owing to technical reasons which everyone knows, Sonia Gandhi could not become a prime minister and so she chose a dummy to run the government until her son came of age.

Even after 10 years, the son has not come of age and now they are looking for another dummy till he is fit to hold the reins and as the above article shows, one of the dummies may be you.

You were brought in by Manmohan Singh for a particular project, the UID cards.

It was initially called the UID card as its purpose was to help identify all citizens of India in the wake of the 26/11 massacre in Mumbai so that there would never be a repeat of that type of incident.

The purpose was hijacked and name changed to Aadhar card which was to be used for giving benefits to the poor.

I have no objections to that but what about the original purpose to identify and record the details of all citizens of India.

Even this Aadhar card has gone through a tortuous route.

My wife and I have one set of cards where the details were collected by the Central bank of India, Lake Town, Branch. We received our cards, within 2 months of collection of details by the Central Bank.

However, all those cards have been invalidated.

Fresh details were taken by Kolkata Municipal Corporation people in March, 2013. Today, after 9 months, we are yet to get the new cards. I will leave it to you to decide how successful you have been in implementing the project.

This was the result of just one project.

If you are to take on the job of the Prime Minister of India, with one hand in your pocket and lips sealed and Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, continuously breathing down your neck you may imagine your position. People will forget all the good you did in Infosys just as people have forgotten all the good Manmohan Singh did as Finance Minister of India. Now, he will go down in history as the worst Prime Minister India has ever had. If you would like to compete with him for the title, please do take the job.

The tragedy of the Congress Party is that in our nation of 120 crores, they cannot find one person to lead the party.

Why?

Because the second line of leadership do not trust each other.

They are like crabs, pulling each other down so that nobody can reach the top and only one family can go there.

The first opportunity they had was when Nehru died and the Syndicate made up of K. Kamraj, Atulya Ghosh, S. Nijalingappa, S K Patil and Sanjeeva Reddy chose Lal Bahadur Shastri, a mild mannered person.

However, when Shastriji died, the crab mentality made the party choose Indira Gandhi.

They thought that Indira being a novice, would be pliable in their hands.

However, all that changed after 1967 and she became her own woman.

She never allowed anyone to become a centre of power and when anybody became powerful, she replaced him.

When her sons came of age, she started grooming Sanjay to take over her job as Rajeev, being a pilot was not interested in politics.

However, Sanjay's plane crash cut short her plans and her own death shortly thereafter gave India another chance to break away from the family.

However, the crab mentality once again made Pranab Mukherjee ask Rajeev to give up his pilots's job and assume Prime Minister ship of India.

In 2004, when the UPA came to power after defeating the NDA, Sonia Gandhi was all set to assume power when her foreign nationality came in the way and she "sacrificed" the post in favour of Manmohan Singh.

Since then we have been punished with a corrupt, scam tainted government of an inept prime minister.

Would you like to follow his footsteps?

Instead, I have a better proposal.

Aam Aadmi Party needs honest people like you to change the existing corrupt system.

In the recent election to Delhi, the Tech city of Bangalore was in the forefront in canvassing for AAP with the Delhi voters.

Why don't you lead the AAP in south, especially in Bangalore?

I am making this offer without asking Arvind Kejriwal but I know the whole of AAP would be most happy to have you with us.

Best regards,

Radheshyam Sharma

188, Bangur Avenue,

B-Block,

Kolkata - 700055

Cell: 9331259878