Everybody is talking about the winners and losers of the just concluded general elections. However, nobody is talking about NOTA that got a significant vote share. Interestingly, not many people know that NOTA does not have any bearing on the vote counting. It is merely a feedback mechanism to register a voter’s disappointment.

The Amethi-Wayanad Strategy

It’s been quite some time since Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination papers from Wayanad and Amethi. However, the controversy of him not contesting exclusively from Amethi, the Gandhi-family stronghold, has still not died down.

Even before his political career could take off, it seems Rahul Gandhi has lost. Lost because it seems he is not interested; not interested in taking responsibilities, not interested in working hard; in fact, not interested in politics altogether. Rahul Gandhi seems to have lost the plot.

The sudden appearance of Robert Vadra in political advertisements has caught many by surprise. In the general elections of 2014, Robert was seen giving hints in interviews about his interest in joining politics. However, his party did not take him seriously. Two years down the line, the party is seen welcoming him. Can we see this as a desperate measure in desperate times?

Having being used to seeing the Congress party make self-goals so frequently in the recent past, it seems unbelievable to see it finally do some course correction. The biggest credit for this goes to its conspicuous-by-his-absence turned conspicuous-by-his-presence Vice President, Rahul Gandhi.

Since I had critiqued Rahul Gandhi’s first TV interview in my previous blog, it is only fair that I discuss his next one too (with PTI). So, what’s the general verdict? Unlike the previous interview, this one was a non-event. Not much has been written or talked about the interview. However, if one were to go by the limited coverage that it received, it has been a decent success, especially when compared to the first one.

Anybody who follows politics cannot have missed one recent development – Rahul Gandhi’s new political avatar. Rahul has started speaking out ‘regularly’ on current issues, he has started expressing his opinions, and he has started taking a stand on contentious issues. This may have seemed implausible just a few months back. As they say, a week is a long time in politics. Indeed!