Patient as doctor

It would be safe to presume that politics, like time and tide in that well-worn cliche, waits for no one. But it did seem to take an ever so slight breather while the PM was away for all of 12 days for his knee-replacement surgery in a Mumbai hospital. Some crucial decisions were indeed put on hold. Now that he is back in the proverbial hot seat, however, these matters will need to be resolved and decisions taken, both within the NDA and in his own party, the BJP. The prime minister has an unenviable task ahead.

To begin with, there is, of course, the problem of Mamata Banerjee. It may be recalled that Banerjee had resigned from the Union Cabinet over the issue of price hike in petroleum products and withdrew her resignation only after the PM8217;s assurance that the matter would be settled after his knee operation. Banerjee, of course, promptly interpreted this assurance to mean that a rollback would be announced after Vajpayee8217;s return from Mumbai. But the moment of truth can be deferred no longer 8212; the Prime Minister will have to decide whether to mollify an ally or not to. As this paper has already suggested, while taking the decision, he might keep in mind that having effected her climbdown, Banerjee really does not have a choice but to accept whatever the BJP doles out. Any rollback in prices at this stage would have a hugely unhealthy effect on the oil deficit, especially as international oil prices have only gone up further since Banerjee made her demand. Atal Bihari Vajpayee also returns to the vexed andincomplete exercise of anointing chief ministerial candidates for the soon-to-be-formed states of Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and Chhattisgarh. Ironically, even as the BJP has railed against the Congress for vesting all power with the dynasty, the process of selection of these candidates in the new states has not always been a local one. In the case of Uttaranchal, for instance, the party8217;s UP unit chief has already announced that whatever, whoever, is good for Uttaranchal would be decided by the party high command. The birth of Uttaranchal is also all set to create problems of another kind. Its formation will deplete the BJP8217;s majority in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, further increasing its dependence on its restive allies. There is speculation that the BJP may be constrained to call for a snap poll. But before that eventuality, another decision will have to be taken. Will the BJP fight the UP elections under the leadership of Ram Prakash Gupta? Given that there has been a sudden spurt in the long runningspeculation about the tremendously uncharismatic Gupta8217;s removal, could it be that the fog will finally lift from over this particular poser? The moment of decision is nearing in Jharkhand, too. Here, JMM chief Shibu Soren has made no secret of his threat 8212; it is either the chiefministership of the new state for him or else.

Vajpayee also returns to the controversy triggered by RSS chief Sudershan8217;s call for a quot;swadeshi churchquot; and the quot;Indianisation of Islamquot; at the RSS mahashivir at Agra. Though BJP chief Bangaru Laxman has clarified that Sudershan8217;s views on minorities are not the BJP8217;s, Vajpayee8217;s famed moderating touch would appear to be sorely needed.