Moving out

Secret disapproval

There are muffled murmurs of disapproval in the Sangh Parivar over L.K. Advani’s six-year-old secret of having been in regular touch with the Pakistani ambassador when he was home minister. Advani let the cat half out of the bag by taking credit in his autobiography for suggesting that Pervez Musharraf be called to India. He explained that he had been in close touch with a Pakistani diplomat using the well-known media personality Karan Thapar as the intermediary. This encouraged Thapar to tell the complete story. He wrote an article recalling how he had accompanied former Pakistani ambassador Ashraf Qazi on clandestine visits to Advani’s residence more than 20 times. (The MEA does not seem to have been kept in the loop, though Vajpayee and Brajesh Mishra were perhaps aware of the meetings.) Thapar recalls that Advani had tears in his eyes when bidding farewell to Ashraf, who was asked to leave the country after the attack on the Indian Parliament. Some in the BJP feel Advani should have reserved his tears for those gunned down in Parliament. BJP president Rajnath Singh, who is riled by Advani’s attempts to undermine his authority, is looking for Advani’s Achilles heel. Recently, Singh was affronted when Advani presided over a key meeting at the party headquarters without the party president, even though Singh had sent word to wait for him as his flight back to Delhi had got slightly delayed.

Only one from one family

Pramod Mahajan’s wife Rekha wanted a BJP Rajya Sabha nomination and she even flew to Delhi to plead her case. She lost out because of competition within the family. Mahajan’s daughter Poonam is keen to contest from the South Mumbai parliamentary seat. Poonam’s advisers, many of who worked earlier for her dad, have made out a strong case that delimitation will help her chances. Several localities with a predominance of lower middle class Maharashtrian households loyal to the Shiv Sena have now been included and Pramod’s closeness to Bal Thackeray would stand Poonam in good stead. The BJP leadership decided that one ticket aspirant in the Mahajan family was enough and turned down Rekha’s request.

Outside forces

As Shibu Soren’s lawyer, R.K. Anand had counted on JMM’s support for the Rajya Sabha seat from Jharkhand. But at the crucial moment, when Anand had to file his nomination papers, Soren and his son Durga were nowhere to be seen. Sensing that securing votes in Jharkhand was a tricky business, with large amounts of cash allegedly being offered as inducement, Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who has seven RJD MLAs in the state, changed his mind and decided to field his lieutenant Prem Gupta from Bihar instead. Although Anand was backed by the Congress high command in Delhi, he lost to Parimal Nathwani, the Ahmedabad-based corporate head of an industrial house. Obviously, many in the Congress did not follow instructions. Chief Minister Madhu Koda opted not to vote at all. In contrast, all BJP MLAs followed the party diktat. Election in-charge Vijay Goel even managed to get BJP rebels to vote for the party candidate.

Hitting out at colleagues

The irrepressible Lalu Prasad Yadav launched an attack on his fellow members on the cabinet committee on prices. Pointing out the high price of oil, tomatoes and steel, he warned that the UPA would be wiped out in the next election. He charged several committee members, whom he mentioned by name, of having forgotten the aam admi.’ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh listened to the outburst in silence.