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Journalists in the capital were busy trying to unravel the mystery behind last Sunday's news leak that Ms Sonia Gandhi had written to the Prime Minister cautioning against entering into a host of Free Trade Agreements . On some probing it turned out that the letter is an old one, to which the Prime Minister has already replied. Second, had there been serious reservations within the Congress about the FTAs, the Prime Minister would not have made such a strong pitch for them at the Asian Development Bank meeting in Hyderabad earlier this month.

Then why the selective leak of the letter? The answer lies in the timing as Monday was the polling day in Rae Bareli from where Ms Sonia Gandhi sought re-election. So, the nationalist spirit of Ms Sonia Gandhi and the Congress' concern for the farmers was reiterated, no matter that the letter also made it clear that Ms Gandhi had the veto power over government policies.

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