DNA

• Cong chief feels spat over Ram Setu is helping BJP

New Delhi, Sep 18: Congress president Sonia Gandhi is reported to have taken a dim view of the factional fighting among Congress ministers in the UPA government following the filing of a controversial affidavit in connection with the Ram Setu issue questioning the historical authenticity of Lord Ram.

The errant Congress ministers have now been asked to shut up.

The offending portions in the affidavit were withdrawn on Friday, though the project to build the Sethusamudram canal linking the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea has not been abandoned. Dredging the canal will mean cutting through Adam’s Bridge (Ram Setu), which many Hindus believe was constructed by Lord Ram.

According to a senior party functionary, the Congress chief is upset over the fact that ministers belonging to her party are adding to the UPA’s woes instead of letting the issue fade away from the public eye.

Gandhi’s intervention came a day after Jairam Ramesh, minister of state for commerce, sought to publicly nudge culture and tourism minister Ambika Soni to resign.

Soni added to the confusion by indicating that responsibility for the controversial affidavit lay also with the law ministry as it was passed by additional solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam. Things appeared to get worse after AICC general secretaries RK Dhawan and Digvijay Singh waded in to remind Jairam Ramesh of the concept of collective responsibility.