Now, Modi Versus Advani

The Narendra Modi-Keshubhai Patel feud has reached such proportions that Modi mentor L K Advani is feeling the backlash. Recently, in an eff...

The Narendra Modi-Keshubhai Patel feud has reached such proportions that Modi mentor L K Advani is feeling the backlash. Recently, in an effort to broker peace between the warring Gujarat leaders, Advani insisted that a meeting of the election campaign committee be held at Patel8217;s residence.

The DPM was also to attend the meeting and he announced that he would drive straight to Patel8217;s house from the airport. Modi was so miffed that he retaliated with a snub few would dare to deliver to a senior leader. He did not show up at the airport to receive Advani, nor did he see him off after the meeting on the plea that he was busy with other work.

It was left to Modi8217;s arch rival Haren Pandya to extend the courtesy to Advani, saving the DPM from the embarrassment of arriving unheralded in Ahmedabad. Modi8217;s churlish behaviour has set tongues wagging about the strained relationship between the CM and the man who put him in the saddle. Obviously, he has no compunctions about letting his mentor feel the heat of his anger.

Mamata8217;s Power Pangs

Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is having her NDA pangs again. She8217;s been in New Delhi for over a week now but neither the Prime Minister nor the Deputy Prime Minister has given her an audience. She even sent around boxes of Kolkata8217;s famous sandesh to sweeten them up but it doesn8217;t seem to have worked. All she got was a cup of tea and some chit chat with Advani8217;s better half, Kamla, and the vague hope of a meeting with the PM8217;s latest troubleshooter, Minister of State Vijay Goel.

The cool behaviour of the Big Two is particularly galling because before the winter session of Parliament started, Mamata spoke to NDA convenor George Fernandes and pleaded for a face-saver so that she could rejoin the coalition with a degree of respect. Otherwise she would have no option but to sit with the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, she apparently told him. George could only come up with a half-solution to her dilemma.

He issued a statement purely for the Bengali press in which he urged her in his capacity as NDA Convenor to join the Government. Mamata sunk her pride and instructed her MPs to travel to Delhi and take their places on the treasury benches. There8217;s still no word on the promised Cabinet berth.

From UP To Gujarat

The tiff between the Congress and Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh has travelled to Gujarat. The SP has decided to field 100-odd candidates in next month8217;s Assembly elections, ignoring the pleas of its Muslim leaders and well wishers. Political circles are wondering how the SP produced so many nominees.

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After all, till yesterday, nobody even knew it had a state unit in Gujarat. RJD leader Laloo Yadav, who never misses an opportunity to take a potshot at his fellow Yadav from UP, regaled MPs in Parliament the other day with his explanation. The list was faxed by none other than Narendra Modi to the SP office, he declared in an exaggerated Bihari accent sending his audience into peals of laughter.

In UP at least, the BJP does seem to have been the gainer of the Congress-SP spat. It managed to get its nominee elected to the Legislative Council thanks to the Congress party8217;s curious decision to abstain. The abstention appears to have been partly motivated by a desire to settle scores with the SP for sneaking hotelier Lalit Suri into the Rajya Sabha as an all party consensus candidate.