No trust motion: Congress' Gogoi googly, BJP caught off guard; why didn't Rahul speak explained

Parliamentary Affairs minister Prahlad Joshi gave the first indication of being surprised when Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla called upon Gaurav Gogoi, the Congress MP from Assam to table the no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government.

This as reports had claimed that Rahul Gandhi, the recently reinstated MP, will take the BJP head-on and first up in the lower house of the Parliament.

Gogoi show followed, he cited eight instances where PM Modi should have spoken but didn’t.

The BJP had assigned the vocal Nishikant Dubey, known for his attacks on another Congress leader Sashi Tharoor, to take Rahul Gandhi head-on but instead had to rebut the Gogoi googly.

But before Dubey stood up to retort, the son of the former Assam chief minister had launched a carefully thought-about attack, taking the Hindi word maun which means silence from the BJP playbook to attack PM Modi. Recall, 'Maun' was an adjective that BJP repeatedly attached with former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

Political analysts feel in giving Gogoi the charge instead of Rahul Gandhi, the Congress a masterstroke. Who better than a lawmaker from Assam to lead a no-confidence motion over the crisis in another northeastern state Manipur.