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Newly appointed Home Minister and veteran Dalit Congressman Sushilkumar Shinde understands too well the creed of loyalty to the Gandhi parivar. In an exclusive interview to The New Indian Express Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla on the show Teekhi Baat on IBN7 news channel, Shinde clearly stated that he is Sonia’s soldier and she can never do wrong.

The home minister affirmed that if Sonia asks him to shoot, he will, and he will shoot to kill. “Our leader is so intelligent, talented and understanding; knows fully well what work has to be given to whom,” says Shinde, interpreting his elevation as Home Minister.

Echoing Giani Zail Singh’s famous statement that if Indira Gandhi ordered him to sweep the floor he would, the sixth Maharashtrian home minister of the country said that nobody has done so much for Dalits and the backwards as the Gandhis.

Unabashedly admitting to being a Gandhi sycophant, Shinde says he looks forward to serving under Rahul—someone he has seen in Rajiv Gandhi’s place even before the young Gandhi joined politics.

The new home minister is very clear about his priorities, placing the Naxal threat over terrorism. The difference between his no-nonsense predecessor and Shinde is political astuteness—he praises P Chidambaram as political, talented and someone who has laid down a perfect roadmap for him to follow. With the Gandhis to watch over his every move, this would not be a difficult task for India’s new guardian of the peace.