Quick Edit | Sideshow centre stage

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee may yet realize his ambition of becoming the country’s next President, but if Wednesday’s developments proved anything, it was that there can never be a sure thing in politics. The drama itself is interesting, but it may be distracting everyone from the task at hand. To be sure, it is the President who invites the single largest party to form a government after the elections, and there’s been a lot said about how this makes the post an extremely important one—especially in an era of fragmented vote shares. Still, the post is largely a ceremonial one.

Given that, it is disappointing to see time and effort that could have been spent pulling the country back from the economic crisis it is spiralling towards being wasted on an election where the only thing at stake seems to be sone man’s ambition and one party’s pride. Then, causes have been lost for much less.