The second message that had gone was that Manmohan Singh government's days are numbered. The bombshell did the trick, but not before BJP leaders had a whale of time making fun of the Congress and the Gandhi scion.
By evening, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Sonia Gandhi, and the Congress president tried to assuage his hurt feelings. The government decided that the draft ordinance will be taken back from Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Political pundits say, Rahul Gandhi could have done this secretly by calling in Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram and asked them to withdraw the ordinance, but the "drama" was felt necessary, to send a strong message to the people that Rahul professed "clean politics".
Political satirists compared Rahul's "grandstanding" with that of Modi touching the feet of Advani.
