Saturday8217;s catch

BJP got its day8217;s share as actor Pankaj Dheer of Mahabharata8217;s Karna fame joined the party on Saturday. Also present was ex- cricketer Mohinder Amarnath, already a member, who was paraded to 8220;refresh the memory8221;. In Bangalore, Deepak Divekar, actor and a lookalike of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, joined the BJP

Congress found an unusual friend in former Union Minister and senior advocate Ram Jethmalani on Saturday when he shared dais with Congress leader and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal. Jethmalani attacked the nda Government8217;s 8220;feel good8221; and 8220;India Shining8221; campaign, Jethmalani said he was amused by Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee8217;s 8220;cruel joke8221; as these could be discovered only in expensive posters issued at the cost of tax payers. But Ram must spring a surprise so Jethmalani offered himself as the unified Opposition8217;s candidate against the Prime Minister in a one-to-one contest. Sibal, however, was non-comittal. 8216;8216;We welcome whoever comes forth to defeat the NDA government,8217;8217; he didn8217;t exceed his party brief.

JDS chief former prime minister Deve Gowda welcomes V. Srinivas Prasad to the party in Bangalore on Saturday. Prasad quit from his office of Union Minister of State for Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs to join Gowda