Cappuccino Musings

Master of her game
The mystery lady is back with her game. With one strike she has silenced her detractors and given her party just the edge it needed in the "moral highground" battle. It's a perfect gameplan by someone who is from the First Family of Indian Politics.
Let's turn back time a few years. Sonia Gandhi is still a novice in Indian politics and is being jeered from all corners as someone who has just come to answer the SOS call of Congress Party. The plan backfires and she ends up getting her party a shameful score in the Lok Sabha elections. To further dent her political ambitions, Sharad Pawar walks out the party. The entire nation is laughing it's heart out. When things couldn't get messier, she has the "famous" tea party with Jayalalitha and plots to bring down the ruling government. As Vajpayee with his famous speech puts down his papers, Sonia rushes to the President claiming to have enough support to form a government, only to realize that she had caused more embarassement to her party. This was enough to create a sympathy wave for BJP and because of Sonia's folly, BJP romped home to victory.
As time clicks, it's contest time again. Congress pulls out a miraculous victory and Sonia becomes the object of resentment at the prospects of her becoming the Prime Minister of India. This time, she plays the masterstroke by pulling herself out of the contest and putting in a dummy aka Manmohan Singh on the chair while still holding the reins. The media proclaimed this to be a "Supreme Sacrifice" and overnight, she became a saint.
Having scored enough brownie points, she decides to carry her "sacrifice" game a little further. When the opposition is crying hoarse about her holding office of profit while still being a MP, she decides its time to bowl the googly again. She relinquishes her MP post and the media again drenches her with glory for her "yet another supreme sacrifice".
Well, nobody is sure what exactly her motives are and for the people who have seen the political situation of India, it still appears to be some kind of a shady plan with definite gains and to pawn out the opposition. But one can never be sure. Is she really genuine about her sacrifices? Is she really "different"? Is she the "saint" which her party proclaims? Well, she still remains a mystery. And she still remains a Master of her Game.