Don’t mess with Jairam Ramesh

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By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, September 8: Celebrity anchor Rajdeep Sardesai on Thursday got a taste of what the Congress beat reporters have now become dreading – a quick rebuttal from the party’s newly-appointed communication department head Jairam Ramesh.

Sardesai, true to his wont of taking swipes at the Opposition leaders, sent out a morning message, questioning the age group of the Congress leaders, who are accompanying party’s former chief Rahul Gandhi in the ‘Bharat Jodo’ Yatra for 35700 kms, beginning from Kanyakumari.

“Morning musing: 11 out of 15 standing in front are above 65. 10 of them were UPA govt Ministers. Where is the Congress next generation? Bharat Jodo yes, but Chehra Badlo is the real need,” tweeted Sardesai.

Ramesh rebutted the anchor, saying that “very lazy tweet to show objectivity. 30% of Bharat Yatris completing 3570 kms are women. Average age is 38. This was side picture of flag hoisting this morning. Better homework needed from liberals”.

Sardesai took Ramesh’ retort positively, noting “by the way the so called liberals get it from right and left”, while hoping that the young yatris, especially the women, would get the leadership role. He also added that Indian politics is crying out for generational/gender shift and “maybe Congress can show the way”.

Jairam afterwards shared a photograph with young Congress workers with Gandhi, saying “this is the photograph that debunks your lament”.

The Congress beat reporters have already grown used to Ramesh’s speedy rebuttal to some of their stories, with some of them getting wary of pushing source-based stories.

“He (Ramesh) is quick enough to reach out to Editors, challenging the stories, and even demanding sources, while arguing that the report is not factually correct,” said one of the Congress beat reporters.

Ramesh took over the charge of the communication department of Congress from Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Ramesh was the Union Minister for Rural Development in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, and he’s widely known to have familiarity with scores of media persons and even editors.