The evil empire that the Congress spawned after Independence is fighting tooth and nail against the outsider, Narendra Modi. For the popes and bishops and the barons and dukes of ancien regime know it too well that if he comes to power, it would not be a change of government but a change of regime. They dread this change, for they know that he would not be an Atal Bihari Vajpayee who would attune himself with the imperatives of Congress-style governance. Hence the various hurdles in Modi’s march to South Block.

Modi has to deal with not only the stunts of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the shenanigans of the grand old party, and the pro-Congress intellectuals but also elements within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who favor status quo.

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj is one of those who fear that if the Congress system is removed, she would be marginalized; this is the reason that she has started making ridiculous demands.

In her tweets, she expressed her opposition to the planned merger of B. Sreeramulu’s BSR Congress with the BJP in Karnataka and Haryana minister Venod Sharma’s attempt to enter the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance through the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) of Kuldeep Bishnoi. Sushma’s proximity to Sreeramulu and the Reddy brothers is not a secret; equally well known are the facts that the Reddys and Sreeramulu are close associates, that they are alleged to be involved in illegal mining, and that they enjoyed the patronage of Swaraj. And now, just because Sreeramulu’s joining the BJP would strengthen the saffron party in Karnataka, and thus brighten Modi’s prospects, she resists the merger. It appears to be a clear case of sabotage.

In the case of Venod Sharma, spitefulness acquires preposterous dimensions. The former Congress leader is not even joining the BJP, and yet the madam is perturbed. As for Sharma, there is no corruption case against him. The worst things that can be said about him are that he is the father of Manu Sharma of the Jessica Lal case and was accused of influencing the investigation. Yet, no illegality has been proved against Venod Sharma. So, why the angry tweets?

The answer does not require a PhD in political science. Over the years, Sushma Swaraj has come very close to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The relations became so cordial that in her last speech in the Lok Sabha, she called Sonia a graceful leader. One has to be a 10, Janpath, lackey to believe that, for Sonia presided over two governments which would be remembered for unprecedented venality, colossal incompetence, and mindboggling shamelessness. Graceful!?

The friendship between Swaraj and Sonia was evident in Johannesburg where the duo had gone to attend the memorial service of anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela. The two had lunch together at a five-star hotel soon after the memorial service. Even if such excursions could be ignored as a private matter, the way the principal Opposition party had allowed the government to further its perverse agenda cannot be overlooked. For instance, Swaraj said that the Food Security Bill was “half-baked,” but she ensured that the BJP supported it. In general, she did little to make the government appear miserable in the Lok Sabha, as her censure of the UPA lacked bite.

And now Swaraj is doing her best to jeopardize Modi’s campaign.