Inside Track

Bansi's tune, no bhajanOne of Parkinson's Laws says that the person who invariably makes the wrong decision can be as valuable as the per...

Bansi8217;s tune, no bhajan

One of Parkinson8217;s Laws says that the person who invariably makes the wrong decision can be as valuable as the person who is unerringly right. One has simply to do exactly the opposite of whatever the perennially bad adviser suggests. Though Arjun Singh belongs to the rare species of those giving consistently bad advice, Sonia Gandhi instead of utilising this as an asset continues to accept his suggestions with disastrous consequences.

Singh was pilloried for Sonia8217;s clumsy moves in the failed attempt to form an alternate government. Now the Congress seems caught in a bog in Haryana because of Singh8217;s advice to back Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal, since he happens to be friendly with Bansi8217;s son, Surinder, and daughter-in-law, Kiran Chaudhary, a Congress MLA. Admittedly, Natwar Singh also played a role in bailing out Bansi, a fellow Jat.

Bhajan Lal, who has never seen eye-to-eye with Arjun Singh is understandably furious. The Congress was expected to sweep Haryana bycashing in on the anti-Bansi Lal sentiment. But by aligning himself with the unpopular Bansi, the scenario has altered. If Bansi Lal is now permitted to merge his HVP party with the Congress, as Arjun advises, Bhajan could leave the party. The Haryana stalwart may not be familiar with Parkinson8217;s principles but he has mastered Lal8217;s law 8212; which is that a Bansi Lal in the Congress is one Lal too many.

No hurrySome months back there was heartburn in the government because the President was taking his time in granting sanction for the prosecution of Madhavsinh Solanki in the Bofors case. Presidential approval was obtained in April but to date the charge-sheet has not been filed in court. Is it because the government recently lifted the ban on Bofors or is it because the CBI is not in a hurry and would prefer to wait till after the poll?

Advance script

Sonia Gandhi8217;s presidential speech at the Talkatora grounds was a success partly because she was word perfect. Earlier in the day, her speech hadalready been recorded since audio cassettes of her address are to be distributed during the campaign. The Congress president avoids fora where there is a possibility that she will have to speak extempore. She was missing from the two all-party meetings called to discuss the Kargil crisis.

Her excuse that she could not attend the all-party meetings called to discuss the Kargil crisis as she had a prior appointment at Mau is a trifle feeble considering that last month she agreed to change the timing of her rally in Rajamundhri, Andhra Pradesh, so that it would not clash with the World Cup cricket match. During the earlier all-party meet, Sonia was in Delhi but stayed away.

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Even Sonia8217;s angry remark accusing the government of trying to 8220;shut up8221; the opposition was not spontaneous. Television channels were alerted that Sonia would have something to say to the media when she came to the AICC office that day. The Congress president clutched a piece of paperas she talked about Vajpayee in 1962, demanding adiscussion on the Chinese border intrusions, suggesting that her lines were scripted in advance.

Division of spoils

An inter-party squabble over who gets the lion8217;s share of the multi-crore advertising budget for the BJP8217;s poll campaign scuttled the chances of Equus. Industrialist Nusli Wadia reportedly proposed the name of Equus to his friend, Jaswant Singh, who heads the party8217;s communication committee for the polls. But Pramod Mahajan, a member of the committee, has other ideas.The Crayons agency president, Rajan Bargotra, says his firm has not pitched for the campaign. But Crayons automatically became a contender from the day the Vajpayee government fell, since it created the much publicised ad 8220;Is bechare ka kya kasoor tha? What wrong has this man done?8221;. The ad was released by Lok Abhiyan, which is controlled by Mahajan groupie, Delhi MP Vijay Goel. Incidentally, the Doordarshan ad marking one year of the Vajpayee government was also by Crayons. K.L. Sharma, meanwhile, is pushingfor the firm Rashtriya Advertising, and another group wants the party ads to be produced in-house.

While the war in the communication committee is about the ad contract, in the media committee it is about turf. Although L.K. Advani has appointed a special media cell for the polls, J.P. Mathur, who looks after media for the party on a daily basis, feels his duties include handling the press coverage for the elections as well.

Overnight transfer

Bashir MALIK was Doordarshan8217;s correspondent in Kashmir for nearly two decades during a period when few journalists volunteered to work in the troubled region. Malik braved militant threats and land mines to file regularly from Kashmir. During the recent Kargil intrusion one of Malik8217;s reports for DD dealt with migration from border villages which created a problem for the Farooq government. Malik8217;s report suggested that the Central government would have to bail out the state government financially. That was apparently sufficient provocation for him to betransferred to Patna the same day on instructions from the Iamp;B ministry.