No prizes for guessing what the Congress Working Committee, which met in New Delhi recently for a post-Gujarat stocktaking, did not discuss this time around too:

Is party chief Sonia Gandhi a liability?

After Gujarat, Gandhi has come in for increased criticism, from within and without, but her leadership qualities were not something the CWC dwelled on.

"Gandhi is the Congress party's asset and liability both," Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Arun Jaitley said. "She can get them the crowds, but not the country."

Harish Khare, political editor of The Hindu, was more scathing. "Gujarat has shown that the BJP has been successful in manufacturing a crisis for Indian nationalism," he said. "It's next to impossible for a foreign-born woman to counter that."

Naturally, Congress spokesperson Jaipal Reddy will have none of that. "Mrs Gandhi is instrumental in keeping the Congress united. No one else could have done it," he said.

"Why do Congress chief ministers abide by her wish? They respect her because they know the ground realities."