The Bareilly bombshell

Now, of course, Gangwar may end up blessing his bete noir. With no work to do, this MP from Bareilly in UP has been focusing his energies on his constituency.

He8217;s floated an NGO called Bharat Seva Trust through which he8217;s been organising blood donation camps, distributing artificial limbs for the handicapped and involving himself in other social services which MPs tend to ignore once they become ministers. At least Gangwar can hope that he8217;s insured himself for the next elections.

Spin it like Advani

BJP members were amused to hear L K Advani take refuge in cricket analogies to explain the current political scenario in his address to the BJP National Council last weekend. The pitch is bad and our batsmen are not that good, he told them. The reason the BJP team is still batting is that the other side doesn8217;t have strike bowlers. Only a 8216;8216;hit wicket8217;8217; will get a batsman out. With the pump scam exploding over their heads, party circles are wondering in hindsight whether Ram Naik will be one of the victims of a 8216;8216;hit wicket8217;8217;.

My Thakur vs your Dalit

Despite the NDA8217;s overwhelming majority in the electoral college for the Vice Presidential elections, caste politics has hit the silent campaign for the No. 2 slot. It8217;s become a Thakur versus Dalit battle with lobbies from both sides trying to cut through party barriers by whipping up fraternal loyalties.

The voters for Vice President are MPs of both Houses of Parliament. The current arithmetic goes something like this: there are some 89 Thakur MPs and roughly 155 MPs belonging to the SCs and STs. The Congress campaign for its Dalit warhorse, Sushil Kumar Shinde, is concentrated almost entirely on the SC/ST members while NDA nominee Bhairon Singh Shekhawat8217;s friends and supporters are making a strong pitch with the Thakur MPs. The narrow caste focus of the campaign has given an unfortunate twist to the contest. The Dalit factor was brought into play to send Narayanan unopposed to Rashtrapati Bhawan five years ago on the empowerment argument. There doesn8217;t seem to be a politically correct explanation for the caste divisions that are being sought to be drawn this time.

Alexander, still mourning

The man who almost became President, P C Alexander, doesn8217;t seem to have recovered from his disappointment. And he8217;s not hiding it. He nearly bit off the head of a fellow MP who came up to congratulate him on his recent election to the Rajya Sabha.

You should be condoling with me, not congratulating me, Alexander snapped. But the mystery surrounding his decision to make his way to the Rajya Sabha after two stints as Governor continues. He8217;s not saying anything, nor is the Government.

Joshi books his hot seat

The new BJP president, M Venkaiah Naidu, took the unusual decision of not honouring his predecessors with seats on the dais at the party8217;s plenary last weekend. Bangaru Laxman, Kushabhau Thakre and Jana Krishnamurthy all sat on chairs with the rest of the audience. Apparently, the new dispensation wanted to wipe the slate clean of memories of Bangaru and Tehelka. But another of Venkaiah8217;s predecessors refused to be stopped. Although a chair had not been placed for him, Murli Manohar Joshi insisted he be given a place next to Vajpayee and Advani. After all, not so long ago, he was considered the third face of the BJP8217;s triumvirate. A chair had to be carried on the stage before the function started.