A day after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi caused political tremors with his denunciation of the ordinance on legislators and attack on government, the Grand Old Party on Saturday got into damage control mode hailing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for convincing the US on the issue of terror. “Compliment Prime Minister for convincing US and others that LeT is a global terror threat. I hope Pakistan will take a note of that and act decisively,” Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh commented on micro blogging site Twitter. His comments came after US President Barack Obama promised to take up with Nawaz Sharif in a “frank” manner the issue of continued Pakistan-based terror directed against India after talks with Singh. Mr Singh also welcomed Rahul’s attack on the ordinance, saying it has “punctured BJP’s double speak”. “Rahul punctured the balloon of BJP’s double speak. It (BJP) had agreed to the amendment in an all-party meeting,” the Congress leader tweeted. After a public outburst critical of the government, Mr Rahul Gandhi had on Friday night reached out to the Prime Minister, saying that he has the “greatest admiration” for his leadership. “You know that I have the highest respect for you and I look up to you for your wisdom. I have nothing but the greatest admiration for the manner in which you are providing leadership in extremely difficult circumstances. I hope you will understand the strength of my own conviction about this very controversial issue,” Mr Gandhi had said in his letter. The PMO sources had said the letter was written by Mr Gandhi after his public criticism of the government on the ordinance issue the other day. The Congress had made the letter public hours after Mr Gandhi made the comments attacking the government’s position and the Prime Minister had disclosed that he had received a communication from the party vice-president. Congress president Sonia Gandhi also spoke to Dr Manmohan Singh over telephone, who is away in the US on a visit. In Etah (UP), Union minister Beni Prasad Verma on Saturday said that the Congress would again come to power at the Centre with Mr Gandhi as their leader following the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Talking to the reporters about the row over Rahul’s denunciation of the ordinance, Mr Verma said that the party was with him on the issue.
