Arnab's 6 questions on Rahul Gandhi's news conference

I interviewed Rahul in January 2014. I am still waiting for another opportunity.

This afternoon, Rahul addressed a news conference. My reporters were not allowed inside. Apparently, we have to prove our loyalty to the Congress first. Since we cannot appease them on that, I watched the news conference on the live feed coming into the newsroom.

Having watched it, I have a few questions.

1. Did Bharatsinh Solanki pass chits to Rahul Gandhi, seated to his left, prompting him on what he should say? Visuals show that he did. Can Rahul Gandhi explain why he needs chits to answer?
2. Did Ashok Gehlot also pass chits to Rahul Gandhi, seated on his right, with some notes on what he should say? Visuals show Rahul receiving and reading some chits with a quick and almost clandestine darting look of the eye. What was written in those chits?
3. Rahul was asked a specific question on the Congress-Pakistan meeting. He answered on the ‘neech comment’ by Mani Aiyar. Did he not hear the question? Or did he duck? #Rahulducks
4. Rahul was asked a question on the quota promise. He mentioned some generalities and passed it to Solanki who gave a convoluted reply. Did Rahul not know the answer or did he duck? It’s a super critical question given his party’s stance. #RahulDucks
5. Why did Rahul try to get up three times amidst questions to end the briefing? The visuals show that in the last five minutes, Rahul made two unsuccessful and one successful attempt to call off the press conference. If you watch the sequence, you shall see that unlike the start, which was with the due ritual of the media coordinators introduction, the end was a quick trapeze like jump-off-the-chair-and-leave situation. What exactly happened?
6. The slew of questions and answers shows the tendency to repeat a short prepared script. It’s something that has happened before as well. Rally lines were repeated, and questions glossed over in favour of complete circular generalities. Was this strategy, or Rahul’s content drying up?

These are relevant questions. The Congress will appreciate that this doesn’t include the list of politically relevant questions that should have been asked at the news conference.

Will I get an answer? The Nation wants to Know. Either in writing, or an interview perhaps.

Read | Arnab's dare to Mani Shankar Aiyar after 'Neech aadmi' remark