Three statements sparked a frenzy on Wednesday. In an interview with a national daily, Sharad Pawar said many regional parties would move closer to the Congress and some may merge, and Rahul Gandhi`s acceptance (as a PM candidate) was more than that of Morarji Desai in 1977. PM Narendra Modi asked Rahul about his silence on ‘Adani and Ambani’, and demanded to know about a ‘black money’ deal to remain silent during the election period after levelling serious allegations against the two major corporate entities. This gave the Congress an opportunity to ask Modi what had gone wrong with his friendship with the particular industrialists. It produced footage of Rahul calling out Adani, Ambani and the PM in the election campaign. The duel went on. 

On Wednesday, Rahul’s party associate Sam Pitroda came under severe attack from Modi for ‘insulting Indians based on the colour of their skin’. In a podcast, Pitroda talked about India’s unity in diversity by describing how Indians looked different (like Chinese, Africans, Whites etc), and yet remained united. Like the previous incidents involving Pitroda, the Congress distanced itself from his statement, calling it unfortunate.