Scion flu grips UP Congress

LUCKNOW: Who is scared of swine flu? Not the UP congressmen, who are trying to come to terms with the sudden outbreak of `scion flu' - a virus which owes its origin to Gandhi scion Rahul's nocturnal forays into Dalit households and now threatens to afflict every leader worth his Gandhi topi.
With UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi's official order making a night stay at the `malin basti' mandatory on the Mahatma's birthday on October 2, what started as a mild case of poaching into chief minister Mayawati's vote bank, has now assumed epidemic proportions.And while her colleagues berate and balk at the "calculated bid to harass them", Joshi is thrilled.
An enthusiastic Joshi expands upon her brain child, conceived a day after Rahul dodged the government authorities and drove down to Shravasti for a soiree in Pasi gram pradhan's shack. "If our leader can do it, so can the workers," she resolutely declared on Wednesday. Incidentally, Joshi is no stranger to the adventure, having a firsthand feel already during Rahul's Bundelkhand sojourn two years ago.
"I have spent three nights among the class and therefore know what I am letting myself in for this time," she happily pointed out. She has even picked out a place of her choice Meja -- a Kol-dominated area in Allahabad which she would heading for on the D-day with a clean pair of bedsheets and her pillow.
The circular asking every district Congress president, every block president, MLA and MP to hold a chaupal a community dinner and then retire there for the night, she insists, has evoked a lot of positivity. "We have already received compliance reports from two-thirds of the nominees approached." The compiled report of the responses, she said, would be forwarded to Rahul for sifting grains from chaff. The veiled message, which leaves little scope for resistance, is enough to send the local leaders in a spin.
The wise ones have done quick calculations and joined the round of follow-the-leader. CLP leader Pramod Tiwari shall be the guest of a Sangramgarh family. Former CM Ram Raresh Yadav has zeroed in on a Lucknow house in the Raidas Mandir Colony. The MLAs and MPs have also fixed the place of their choice "strictly within their constituencies". The lot includes all the four Union ministers from the state -- Jitin Prasada, Shri Prakash Jaiswal, Pradeep Aditya Jain and RPN Singh. The high profile foursome, Congress sources said, have been directed to "rush down for the night and set the precedent".
However, spending a night sprawled over a string cot with mosquitoes buzzing overhead hardly makes an attractive proposition to everyone even though the murmurs of discontent are guarded. They range from derision at the "juvenile step" to "typical Joshi nautanki". Then there is much stronger outburst. One senior leader even went to the extent of accusing Joshi of acting spiteful and vindictive. "Just because she went through a harrowing times in Bundelkhand, the lady is making sure we also suffer the same fate," he complained.
The list of dos and dont's is also leading to heartburn. The leaders are forbidden to carry a tiffin box and directed to eat whatever is cooked by the bastiwallahs. Of course one can decide the menu and send provisions, sources confide. Moreover, no mineral bottle allowed and no bed. Only the bedrolls, they are warned. With the media more than eager to capture the mother of Dalit prem drama, not to forget the ever vigilant behenji who shall be watching over the show, the party cannot afford to slip, a local leader said, summing up the strategy.