Why did it take the BJP four days to disown Sushma Swaraj’s comment on the bomb blasts? Swaraj actually repeated the absurd charge of blaming the Congress government for the terror attack a day after she first made the original claim while attending an NDA function. L K Advani trod cautiously, not wanting to create further schisms in the already divided party. Many assumed that party president Rajnath Singh had cleared Swaraj’s comment. Singh was on tour and could not be contacted immediately. Matters came to a head after a BJP MP declared that if senior leaders were permitted to vent their personal views to the embarrassment of the party then he wanted to hold a press conference to spell out his personal opinion on the nuclear deal. After Singh clarified that he was clueless about the Swaraj comment, party spokesperson Prakash Javdekar was made to disassociate the BJP from her remarks.Guess who’s the guest? Bhaskar Ghose quit his job as head of the Lok Sabha TV channel in May. Ghose says he was over 70 and decided to bow out. Insiders point out that the relationship between Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Ghose soured over the selection of guests on the channel. Congress MPs were furious when a lengthy interview with Gandhi family baiter, Subramanian Swamy, was telecast. Despite orders from high ups, the programme was repeated because of an oversight on the part of the scheduling department. Similarly, an interview with RSS leader Madan Das Devi also evoked outrage. Keeping distance Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi travelled in separate aircraft to Ahmedabad, although they arrived and departed only 20 minutes apart. They even moved around the city in different vehicles on the same route. The reason for staying apart was that the PM, as per protocol, was accompanied by Chief Minister Narendra Modi, while both Gandhi and Modi wanted to keep a distance from each other. At the Civil Hospital, Manmohan Singh came up to Gandhi and asked if she was ready to leave. The party president indicated that the PM should go ahead and she would follow later.Home Minister Shivraj Patil was Sonia Gandhi’s travelling companion. The fact that he managed to keep his attire a spotless white despite moving through rain and slush was a matter of comment. Those who know Patil well say he always carries at least one change of identical clothes on all journeys. Poll datesThe Congress is consulting the UPA allies to decide just when to dissolve Parliament. The question is whether elections should be held in November or February. While earlier the general view was that it would be advisable to postpone the polls, now many feel that even if the polls are held later issues like rising prices and terrorism will not go away. Which is why it might be advantageous to call the elections at a time when the victory in Parliament and the nuclear deal clearance is still fresh in people’s minds. Also, with time it is feared the SP will become more and more demanding.The Election Commission, meanwhile, has called for a meeting on August 11 to decide the Assembly poll schedules for Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram. While the Kashmir poll may be in October, the other state elections are likely to be held mid-November.Image correction It is not just the techno savvy younger generation of politicians, like Omar Abdullah, who maintain a blog on the Internet, even Lalu Prasad Yadav has one. The latest buzz on Lalu’s blog is an explanation of what he actually meant when he asked Shah Rukh Khan to cast him in the part of a politician, if such a role crops up in one of his films. This is not because he is star struck, Lalu explains. It is because he wants to correct the wrong impression about politicians in Bollywood movies, where politicians are not taken seriously. In real life, people look up to politicians, Lalu claims.Defining role In Ahmedabad, Congress MP Rajiv Shukla declared that the responsibilities of a chief minister should be clearly defined so that the Centre is not always made the scapegoat. Whether it is terrorism, drought, inflation, law and order, inevitably the PM gets blamed, rather than the state chief minister. “Are chief ministers there just to allot land in their states?” he queried.
