Chapter 40: Political Sacrifice

  From the Presidential Palace to the Prime Minister's Office, a normal 15-minute drive took the motorcade half an hour and it still hadn't covered half of the distance.

  The lingering pain of his injuries tormented Santos' body, while the noisy protesters tormented his mind.

  The air force suffered another crushing defeat, not only making Santos angry and disappointed, but also facing an unprecedented crisis of trust.

  From President Parler, Santos learned that a high-ranking congressman had initiated a vote of no confidence against the interim prime minister and had received support from dozens of congressmen, reaching the legal standard for a vote. After going through the necessary legal procedures, a vote will be held in the House of Representatives in the near future.

  Half an hour ago, Santos still thought it was impossible.

  The National Party-led coalition held a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. Before launching the war, Santos sought the views of each party leader within the coalition and those of key political leaders, securing broad support. As long as the governing coalition remained united, no one could remove Santos from the premiership.

  It wasn't until Santos saw the scene before him that he realized Paral had summoned him for more than just a casual chat.

  Emotional protesters and slogans echoing in New Delhi are the votes in the hands of lawmakers.

  A victorious war can unite the Indian people, greatly increase the ruling party's support rate, and make the ruler a national hero in the eyes of the people, with absolute prestige. On the other hand, a lost war can also bring the ruling party and the ruler to another extreme.

  Politicians not only have no noble "moral integrity", but are also a bunch of people who won't get up early without any benefits. In the past, they could support Santos in launching wars for their own interests; now, they can equally sacrifice Santos on the altar of politics for their own interests.

  After taking painkillers, Santos' gaze fell on the demonstrators outside the car window.

  Parlar is only a nominal head of state, not involved in government work, not involved in party disputes, and has no real power. She will not arbitrarily summon the interim prime minister, nor will she reveal important information to the interim prime minister without purpose.

  After some reflection, Santos realized that things were certainly much more serious than Paral had said.

  Some people have not only initiated impeachment proceedings but also lobbied among various parties to gain broader support.

  Who could it be?

  Santos immediately ruled out the involvement of the People's Party.

  If the no-confidence motion against the caretaker prime minister is successful, a new caretaker prime minister will be elected by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, rather than immediately dissolving the parliament and holding early elections. In this scenario, the People's Party would still be in opposition and unable to form a government. To become the ruling party, the People's Party should wait until India loses the war and then launch a no-confidence motion or demand an early dissolution of the assembly. Alternatively, the People's Party can even pin its hopes on the general elections two years later.

  The threat can only come from within the ruling coalition of the National Party.

  It is likely that the People's Party MPs will vote against or abstain in the voting. Even if a small number of People's Party MPs stand on the height of national and ethnic interests and vote for support, the vast majority of People's Party MPs will still stand on the party's interest and oppose the dismissal of the interim prime minister.

  To succeed in ousting the caretaker prime minister, the impeachment motion must be supported by a majority of lawmakers from the ruling National Assembly coalition.

  What kind of person has the ability to win over most of the ruling coalition's MPs in Parliament?

  Santos revealed a hint of an eerie smile at this thought.

  There is only one person with this "energy".

  It is definitely Rahul Gandhi, the son of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, the fourth generation "heir" of the Nehru-Gandhi family!

  Is it Rahul Gandhi behind the scenes? Santos can even guess Rahul Gandhi's political intentions.

  The Indian army's defeat on the battlefield not only severely damaged the morale of the Indian soldiers, but also seriously hurt the national self-esteem of the Indian people. The people will not blame the soldiers who fought bloody battles and stained the battlefield with blood, but will point their fingers at the government leaders. As India struggles to turn the tide on the battlefield, 42-year-old Rahul Gandhi must find a way out for himself and the Congress Party to shake off the negative impact of the defeat.

  Just as ancient witches would offer living people to angry gods in times of disaster, Rahul Gandhi will not hesitate to sacrifice Santosh Nehru to the wrath of public opinion when political disasters come.

  Must not be slaughtered by anyone, and even more cannot become a sacrifice on the altar.

  But it's not just about venting public opinion; someone must also take responsibility.

  Who will take responsibility for India's defeat?

  At this thought, Santos' face turned gloomy.

  Is Naval Commander Das or Air Force Commander Wandall?

  Santos rubbed his temples and felt a bit clearer in the head.

  Is Das suitable? The "Killer" nuclear submarine and the "Vikrant" and "Vikramaditya" aircraft carriers sank one after another, mistakenly bombing a Chinese worker camp, causing China to overreact. Das is also responsible for this. However, making Das take the blame will inevitably shift public anger towards China, and with the current situation, it's entirely possible that the scale of the war will expand, or even lead to China directly entering the war.

  Santos let out a deep breath. China hadn't even directly entered the war and it had already ended up like this; if China were to directly enter the war, the consequences would be unthinkable.

  What about Wandaal? The air force lost more than half of its advanced fighter jets and nearly half of its excellent pilots within five days, making the war situation extremely unfavorable for India. He must be held accountable for this. The main opponent of the Air Force is Pakistan, letting Wandaal become a "scapegoat" will not shift the fire to China.

  It's just that it wasn't just the air force that suffered a crushing defeat.

  If Wanddal steps down, Das must make an account for it and should take responsibility and resign.

  "Get in touch with Vandal, have him come to the Prime Minister's office after lunch." After a brief pause, Santos said to his secretary, "Have Makri come see me at three thirty this afternoon."

  The secretary glanced at Santos and saw from the expression of the acting premier that someone was going to be in trouble.

  At 1:30 pm, Wandall left the Prime Minister's office in a daze half an hour after arriving.

  The Air Chief who commanded thirteen lakh airmen and controlled thousands of aircraft did not return to the Air Headquarters but went straight back to his residence in New Delhi.

  Wanda couldn't figure it out, Santos would let him "take the blame".

  Before the war, in order to gain support, Santos treated the Air Force Commander like a foreign head of state. When it was time to take responsibility for this, he pushed the Air Force Commander onto the "guillotine".

  Once inside the study, Vandal locked his secretary out of the door.

  Looking at the medals and flags filling three walls and two cabinets, Wang Dal took out a bottle of strong liquor from the bottom drawer of his desk. After pouring himself a cup, he took out a gold-plated Makarov pistol from the top drawer. This was a gift given to him by the general manager of Sukhoi when he went to Russia to sign the contract for purchasing new fighter jets.

  Wanda poured bullets onto the desktop and grabbed a glass of wine, taking several big gulps.

  One, two, three...

  As Vandal loaded the bullets into the magazine, his hands began to shake. After loading the magazine, he downed the liquor in the cup in one gulp.

  The liquor took effect quickly, and although his hand holding the gun was shaking a bit, pulling the trigger seemed to require less strength than he had imagined.

  The sound of rapid footsteps came from outside the door.

  Wanda pressed the muzzle against his chin. The moment the door was pushed open, he pulled the trigger.

  Hearing the sudden gunshot, the secretary walking in front was instantly stunned.

  A man in his forties bypassed the secretary and walked into the study. He caught a whiff of the smell of alcohol and gunpowder hanging in the air, and saw the corpse lying on the desk in a pool of blood. The middle-aged man slightly furrowed his brow.

  "What's the point of staying, go call security and an ambulance." The bodyguard rushed in, drove away the secretary, and then said to the middle-aged man, "Mr. Gandhi, we'd better leave here immediately."

  The middle-aged man left the air force commander's study with an expressionless face after glancing at the still convulsing corpse.

  At this time, inside the Prime Minister's residence.

  "Your Excellency, you want me to monitor..." Markri swallowed the rest of his words, "Is... isn't this a bit too much?"

  "Markley, don't you understand what I mean?" Santos sized up the intelligence chief and said, "The assassination of Prime Minister De Gandhi has caused us immeasurable losses. The current situation is very unfavorable to us, and the enemy may take decapitation action against us. We have already sacrificed one prime minister, and I don't want to sacrifice another future prime minister. Moreover, protecting key personnel is also the responsibility of the Joint Investigation Bureau. What I want you to do is just strengthen the security protection work for members of parliament, record the activities of members of parliament, so that we can carry out investigation work during special periods."

  Marki was clear that Santos' purpose was absolutely not to protect Rahul Gandhi.

  The two people seemed to be competing with each other, and the atmosphere in the room became a bit tense.

  After weighing the pros and cons quickly, Markri said: "I can strengthen the security guard force according to your order and record the whereabouts of the members of parliament, but I need your written authorization."

  Santos hesitated at this point.

  If it's just a verbal authorization, without any evidence, no matter how far the incident goes, he can shift the responsibility to the Director of the Joint Investigation Bureau. If an order is given in written form, it would be equivalent to handing over real evidence to Mark, and after things get out of hand, it may become India's "Watergate".

  "I can give you written authorization, but I want your guarantee," Santos had no other choice, the head of intelligence was not a good person to fool around with, "it must be a secret operation, cannot let others know."

  "I've arranged for my most reliable underling to keep things under control as much as possible."

  Santos nodded slightly. "Also, you are to report the senator's whereabouts to me at all times when I need it."

  Markie still agreed, these are small issues. As long as there is a written authorization from the interim prime minister, he can treat the surveillance and tracking of Rahul Gandhi as a special task, ultimately the person responsible is not the executor but the issuer of the order.

  After obtaining Santos' written authorization, Macri left the Casa Rosada.

  Markie didn't want to know why Santos "cared" about Rahul Gandhi. Both of them were core members of the Nehru-Gandhi family, and no one in India dared to offend this powerful family that led India to independence and prosperity. However, when Markie learned that Air Commander Vandal had shot himself after returning to his residence from the Prime Minister's office, he immediately sensed an internal connection between the two incidents, even feeling a surge of dark undercurrents. The mastermind behind the scenes was either Santos Nehru or Rahul Gandhi.

  External worries have not dissipated, internal troubles have arisen again, can India get through its current difficulties?