Saddled with a horde of actors and actresses, BJP now faces managerial problems. Sources said the foremost problem before a film personality is formally ushered in to the party is to prepare him or her to face the media. For a change, dialogues are not scripted on paper. The stars’ coaching by a senior party functionary is a fast job, beginning just 15 minutes before the launch.The task, according to them, is easier ‘‘because you (mediapersons) ask them same old questions like why are joining BJP or would you contest the polls’’. The stars have been tutored to say: ‘‘I have joined BJP because it has provided a stable government under the leadership of Atal Behari Vajpayee and India is developing fast under his stewardship.’’ On contesting the polls, safe answers are: ‘‘It is up to the BJP leadership to decide’’ or ‘‘I have just joined the party and I think I am too young to contest.’’That the coaching is effective is proved by the successful manner in which stars ranging from Hema Malini and Poonam Dhillon to Jeetendra, Suresh Oberoi and Smriti Malhotra acquitted themselves while facing the media.The preliminaries over, the BJP leadership is now busy devising a strategy for putting stars to full use during electioneering. Sources said: ‘‘Unlike previous occasions, when we used them as crowd-pullers, we are going to employ them scientifically this time to carry the message too.’’Each woman filmstar, according to them, will be accompanied by a woman party worker during the campaign. They said: ‘‘We will draft woman activists, who are sharp, to assist them. They would brief them on constituencies, candidates and the dialogues suited to the audience.’’The BJP glamour brigade stands apart from the Congress collection — the saffron party is enrolling them all, while the Congress is getting most of them only in the supporting role. It may take BJP time to set up a filmstars’ cell, but Bollywood has arrived as a component of the polity.
