The past 48 hours showed how the Congress has botched up what could have been its moment.

They allowed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to get a headstart, making the entire issue of a casteist remark by the Congress.

The BJP unleashed top ministers who accused Rahul Gandhi of abusing the Other Backward Class (OBC) community. The Congress had only its president, a Dalit himself, to trash this narrative.

But let’s begin with the moments after the verdict came from Surat court on Thursday.

A senior lawyer Congress MP told News18: “The party should have been alerted the day the high court had vacated the stay on this issue. They should have moved the sessions court immediately, but no such attention was paid and the team was back in Delhi. The Congress was again left confused on whether to make the conviction the main issue to attack the BJP. Which it did. But soon the wisdom dawned that this would be seen as taking on courts at a time when they would approach the higher courts for relief.”

Also came the realisation that not all opposition parties, even those who have been with the Congress so far on the Adani issue, would want to support this court issue.

Hence when the Opposition parties met on Friday morning, the issue was not so much the conviction but Adani and Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe. But the Congress could not let go of Gandhi and so it mixed it with misuse of institutions and made a veiled reference to the Surat court issue.

THE MORNING MEETING

But the real botching seemed to come at the morning meeting at Sonia Gandhi’s office, in which Gandhi was present. At the meeting, few leaders suggested that the Congress must pre-empt disqualification and write to the president. But two senior MPs, one who was legally inclined, said that the disqualification would take time as he has 30 days to appeal. It was a bolt from the blue when the speaker’s office issued notification for disqualification.

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It was at the hurriedly called press conference that the party tried to do damage control.

It’s a long legal battle. Protests are planned without attacking the judiciary.

The party now has taken a cue from Gandhi, when he tweeted to say he was ready to give up anything for the sake of truth.

The real fighter and asli challenger is the pitch of the Congress for 2024 with Gandhi being the epicentre. But will he alone be the hand which pulls the Congress to victory in 2024?

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Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday said the AAP government was in control of the law and order situation in the state and will not “let it become Afghanistan”. Questions are being raised over the delay in hunting down the radical leader.

In a short video message, this time in Punjabi, Mann said apart from trying to win the hearts and minds of the people, the government was committed to making the state safe.

“We will not allow those who want to play politics over religion to succeed. You have reposed your confidence in me and I assure you that I will not let Punjab go back to its old days. I won’t let Punjab turn into Afghanistan,” he said.

This was the second address of Mann in three days but this time he chose to speak in Punjabi, indicating it was aimed at a state audience.

“We want to ensure that the youth of the state get better education, employment and not get used by nefarious elements. You realise the futility of this when it starts to impact your own child,” Mann said.

With the opposition claiming that police picked up many innocent youngsters on the pretext of a crackdown on Amritpal Singh, Mann said the state government was committed to ensure that there was no breakdown in law and order.

“I will not allow the social fabric of the state to be hampered. I assure the people that the designs of those hell-bent on disturbing peace will be foiled,” he said.

Mann’s message comes at a time when the Punjab Police is being criticised over delays in tracking down Amritpal despite a massive search operation. With reports indicating that he would have sneaked out of the state by now, the pressure is mounting on cops to nab him.

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