Back to Gandhinagar

Last year L K Advani seemed a trifle nervous about his Gandhinagar constituency what with the murder of local MLA Haren Pandya and governmen...

Last year L K Advani seemed a trifle nervous about his Gandhinagar constituency what with the murder of local MLA Haren Pandya and government employees who form the bulk of the voters on the warpath thanks to Chief Minister Narendra Modi8217;s attempts to discipline them. The DPM8217;s frequent visits to Saurashtra led to speculation that he was cultivating an alternative constituency and might stand from his home district of Anjar. But Advani told this columnist last week that he felt good standing from Gandhinagar and nowhere else. He emphasised that he did not plan to have a backup constituency.

Generation Next grounded

The cream of BJP8217;s generation next, all of whom are from the Rajya Sabha, will be denied an opportunity to stand for the Lok Sabha this time. Arun Jaitley had set his sights on several constituencies, with Modi offering him a seat from Gujarat and Uma Bharti from Madhya Pradesh. Jaitley was reportedly most tempted by an offer from the Akali Dal that he stand from Amritsar in Punjab, which is his home town. Similarly, Sushma Swaraj had offers to contest from Bellary, Haryana and Delhi. But since both are to be party spokespersons during the election campaign they will be confined mainly to Delhi. BJP President Venkaiah Naidu who has to tour the country for the campaign will also not contest and General Secretary Pramod Mahajan may per force have to follow suit.

Missing pieces

Peter Bleach may have been released after 10 years, but the mystery as to who was responsible for the Purulia arms lift still remains. The judge found insufficient evidence against the perennial scapegoat, the Anand Marg. The needle of suspicion suggests a RAW operation to supply arms to rebels in a neighbouring country. The question is will Bleach remain silent once he returns to London and is offered huge sums by the British tabloids to disclose the full story.

B Team first

A Congress order last week appointing party spokespersons has created ripples. The high profile Kapil Sibal, Priyaranjan Das Munshi, Anand Sharma and Abhishek Singhvi were assigned to look after the media relations and the poll campaigns in states, while light weights Sibte Rizvi, Shailaja and Janardhan Dwivedi were appointed as party spokespersons for the AICC in Delhi. Sibal who hopes to stand for Parliament from Delhi discovered that that he was expected to look after far away Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, Das Munshi who will be contesting from Bengal is in charge of Madhya Pradesh though there is no direct air link between Kolkata and Bhopal.

Media committee chairperson Ambica Soni, who was accused of attempting to clip the wings of rivals, claims that the order had been misread. The last line makes clear that more names will be added to the roster of party spokespersons at the national level. A Congress leader explained that the three names announced so far were merely the reserve team. But is it normal to declare the names of your B team before you announce your A team?

Lion turns Veg

The one-time lion of Madhya Pradesh, Arjun Singh, who attempted to devour his political opponents from Narasimha Rao to Sitaram Kesri and Madhavrao Scindia, has turned vegetarian. Recently when Singh was offered a plate of sandwiches, he demurred and demanded to know if the sandwiches had egg in them. Curious why the meat-eating Thakur should be avoiding eggs, a journalist inquired whether Singh was scared by reports of the spread of bird flu in South Asia. Somebody else wondered whether Singh was competing with the new MP Chief Minister Uma Bharti who has been propagating vegetarianism with evangelistic zeal. Singh8217;s change in eating habits has in fact been influenced by his wife who persuaded him two years back to turn vegetarian, he confided.

Freeloading Ally

The Congress allies are taking full advantage of the party8217;s present vulnerability. In Tamil Nadu the DMK allotted the Congress 10 seats, seven of which were won comfortably by the AIADMK in the last election, while the DMK in its quota of 15 seats, included 11 which it held in the last Lok Sabha. Pondicherry which is represented by the Congress in Parliament has been handed over to the PMK. Meanwhile, BSP supremo Mayawati continues to keep the party on tenterhooks and has made it clear that she will call the shots in the event of a tie-up.

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Even the Congress8217;s most loyal ally Laloo Prasad Yadav is beginning to carp about his electoral partner. Last week he grumbled that they were a bunch of aristocrats who do no work and yet each one of them expects to get a parliamentary ticket. They were bhola whereas some degree of 8216;8216;badmashi8217;8217; is required in politics. 8216;8216;Ek jan kamata hain, sub khate hain8217;8217; he added, implying that Sonia Gandhi has to work hard to keep the party afloat, while all others in the Congress simply enjoy the fruits of her labour. Asked what advice he would give his ally, Laloo joked, if the Congress leaders were sitting on a dais his party workers would all run away.