Inside Track

Their first target is Principal Secretary to the PM, Brajesh Mishra, who they accuse of being concerned only with foreign policy and postings and transfers of diplomats. The PMO, in turn, is targeting Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, who as head of the Cabinet Committee on Prices is blamed for the food price hikes. The RSS, meanwhile, wants Sinha, Mishra and the lacklustre Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar transferred and a political appointee installed in the PMO.

Some in the Advani camp are convinced thatreplacing Vajpayee with Advani would halt the party’s downslide. Since Advani’s hard-line image is unacceptable to the government’s allies, his spin masters are eager to point out that on sensitive communal issues Advani reacted immediately demonstrating his secular credentials. Unfortunately this propaganda has been counter productive as far as Advani’s principal backer the RSS is concerned!

Curiously, several senior BJP office bearers do not seem unduly bothered by the party’s recent electoral reversals. They have their own personal scores to settle. Govindacharya sees the defeat in Rajasthan as a vindication of his long-standing criticism of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Uma Bharati views the Madhya Pradesh defeat as proof of Sunderlal Patwa and party chief Khusabhau Thakre’s poor selection of candidates. Former Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana is blessed with a naturally genial face, but these days he is beaming more than ever before.

Disorganised Organiser

The many hiccups at the functionto mark the golden jubilee celebrations of the RSS journal, Panchjanya, last fortnight is reflective of the declining standards of the RSS’s much-vaunted efficiency and discipline. Prime Minister Vajpayee as chief guest was on the dais for some 20 minutes before RSS Chief Rajendra Singh showed up. Panchjanya editor Tarun Vijay kept pacing up and down the stage in his triple capacity as chief organiser, deliverer of the welcome address and compere. He tried to blame Raju Bhaiya’s delay on the Prime Minster’s security arrangements.

Doordarshan telecast a lengthy programme on Panchjanya to please its BJP bosses, which is not surprising considering one does not take seriously Prasar Bharati’s pretensions of independence. But why Congressman Jairam Ramesh should find it necessary to give a certificate on Doordarshan to a publication which his party strongly disapproves of is not clear.

Petty rivalry

There has always been a certain amount of oneupmanship in the relationship between Minister of Statefor Social Welfare Maneka Gandhi and Minister of State for External Affairs (MEA) Vasundhara Raje Scindia. Both entered politics around the same time and both belong to politically powerful families. Vasundhara won an election before Maneka, but Maneka her junior in age and experience was appointed a central government minister first.

This is Maneka’s third ministerial tenure and Vasundhara’s first. Vasundhara seems to be going out of her way to ensure that the MEA scuttles Maneka’s foreign tours, though they are for very legitimate purposes. Three months back the MEA refused permission for Maneka to fly to Holland to receive five million guilders for setting up a bear sanctuary in India. A trip to Italy where an NGO wanted to personally hand over the money to Maneka for setting up six special spinal injury centres in India was similarly spiked.

Last week Maneka was to address a Harvard University association which has sent her a round ticket. Maneka thought she could avail the opportunity to stop off atRome to collect the money for the spinal injuries centres and return via London where she has been promised $2.6 million for her ministry’s child helpline project if she attended a charity dinner. The MEA declined permission to all three functions. That too at the very last moment.

Fair-weather friends

While the BJP leadership, including general secretaries, grumble that they have a hard time securing an audience with L.K. Advani, a group of saffron scribes — many of whom are recent converts to the Sangh Parivar — have become trusted advisers who meet the Home Minister almost daily. BJP old-timers are also smarting at the attention paid by RSS leader K.S. Sudershan to the half-baked advice of these favoured scribes.

Former Prime Minister V.P. Singh learnt the hard way that political pundits-turned-rajgurus are a recipe for disaster. The media courtiers carried tales back and forth and instead of firefighting made the breach between Devi Lal and Singh complete, thus ending the Raja’s career ingovernment.

This time around the self-seeking scribes are busy fanning the flames of factionalism between Vajpayee and Advani. Though amply rewarded for their work in the parliamentary election with Rajya Sabha tickets, governmental jobs and favoured treatment for their publications, partymen point out that the pampered journalists were conspicuous by their absence from the party office last week when the chips were down after the assembly polls.