Taken down a peg

Go-betweens go out

Sonia’s coterie of advisors is not happy with their party president’s sudden accessibility and her determination to speak for herself. They have persistently discouraged her from interacting with other party leaders, Congress party workers, or the media on the grounds that it would erode the Gandhi mystique. Their selfish interest in remaining as Gandhi’s go-betweens and spokespersons is that they increase their own importance. For instance. R K Dhawan and V George, as PAs of Congress party presidents, became powers in their own right simply by acting as gatekeepers for their bosses.

Incidentally, ever since the recent Assembly defeats, Ambica Soni, the powerful party general secretary who was seen constantly at Gandhi’s side, is keeping a low profile. She was not present when Gandhi held meetings with the publicity and manifesto committees at the party office. She was also missing during Gandhi’s tour of western UP. Nor did she accompany her boss to Mumbai where Gandhi addressed a rally. Soni seems to have adapted a low profile for strategic reasons though she continues to be very close to the Congress president.

Disputed legacy

Ramakrishna Hegde’s death has triggered off separate battles for his political and financial legacy. Vijay Mallya, who has taken over as Janata Party president, says that Hegde had agreed to join his party. Deve Gowda, who heads the Janata Dal (S), insists that despite their past differences Hegde and he had mended fences towards the end. On the domestic front, Hegde’s family in Bangalore which includes his widow, three children, and numerous grandchildren is in conflict with the Delhi-based dancer Pratibha Prahlad who asserts that she has to defend the interests of her two sons.

Selective memory

CPI(M) LEADER Harkishen Singh Surjeet’s failure to remember names comes across very sharply in his televised interview on Walk the Talk, where interviewer Shekhar Gupta has to keep nudging his memory. For instance, when trying to recall Chandrababu Naidu’s name, Surjeet describes him as that leader from MP, obviously confusing MP with AP. At a recent press conference, he forgot the name of the BSP and inquired in a whisper of someone close by what name was the scheduled caste party called.

Memory lapse over names is understandable at 87, but some of Surjeet’s former United Front colleagues feel that he suffers from selective amnesia about the events that led to the installation of I K Gujral as prime minister. Surjeet’s disclosure about a poll to chose the UF leader, the results of which were countermanded after he left the country is, they claim, invented to get Surjeet back into Mulayam Singh Yadav’s good books.

Door not shut

Normally when ministers quit the Cabinet there is so much bad blood that there is no point in a face-to-face meeting with the PM and resignation letters are simply forwarded. But when the DMK quit the NDA, the departing ministers, T R Baalu and A Raja, had a half-hour chat with Prime Minister A B Vajpayee which was extremely cordial. The PM spoke of M Karunanidhi affectionately and expressed the hope that the ministers would soon return.

The NDA does not want to burn its boats with its former allies from Tamil Nadu. With no sight of a poll tie-up with the erratic Jayalalithaa, the BJP is thinking in terms of a post-poll scenario where the DMK could once again rally around the NDA, if its new poll partner, the Congress, flops.

Only boss to boss

Like every other major political player Laloo Prasad Yadav is busy trying to sew up poll alliances this season. Laloo was keen to sound out Om Prakash Chautala, but since the Haryana Chief Minister was unavailable one of his close lieutenants dialed Chautala’s son, Ajay, instead and handed the receiver to Laloo. After politely inquiring about Ajay’s health and his father’s wellbeing Laloo slammed the phone down and gave the Rajya Sabha MP a mouthful for assuming that at his elevated status he would be willing to talk to anyone except the top boss.