Capturing lost ground

After being a mute spectator while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) appropriated its catch phrase "aam aadmi" as well as its core votebank, the Congress is trying to make sure it doesn't hand over one of its core "issues", the dilution of the Land Acquisition Act, to a usurper. So, after activist Anna Hazare beat the party to announcing a dharna on the land ordinance at Jantar Mantar on February 23, the Congress quickly announced that Rahul Gandhi - who it believes is the real champion of farmers' issues, having soiled his hands in Bhatta-Parsaul in 2011 - too would join Congressmen in a dharna at Jantar Mantar on the same issue, but on February 25. When a Congress spokesperson was asked whether Gandhi would be joining Anna in his protest, he brushed aside the suggestion saying, "Anna can join our dharna if he wants to."