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Journalism of Courage
Because of the blazing sun and maximum temperatures of over 40 degrees C during L K Advani8217;s yatra through Gujarat, most in his cavalcade donned protective headgear whenever they stepped out in the open. Advani, who addressed the public from the top of his bus, was the worst sufferer, but he gamely refused to wear a cap as he felt it detracted from his image.
His daughter Pratibha, who accompanied him, did not however adhere to the conventional dress code of politicians in rural India. A farmer in Dakor village in Gujarat was bedazzled by the diamond studs in her ears. Her high heels, streaked hair, embroidered kurtas and designer dark glasses were out of place in the countryside. In such matters, many politicians could learn from Sonia Gandhi, who picked up her clothes sense from her late mother-in-law.
Creating discord
HRD Minister Arjun Singh is fishing in troubled waters by announcing his new quota system that would apply to IITs and IIMs without consulting PM Manmohan Singh and the Cabinet. Singh is working on the assumption that Sonia Gandhi is still cross with the PM for putting her in an awkward position over the chairpersonship of the National Advisory Council. A decade back Singh had successfully created a wedge between Narasimha Rao and Sonia by projecting himself as the lone champion of the Jain Commission.
Singh8217;s hand has been strengthened ever since he was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha last month. He had been lying low for a while as he feared that at 75, he might not be re-nominated. Singh was isolated in the Cabinet because of his habit of badmouthing government policies even while leaving Cabinet meetings. But recently some of the younger ministers have started flocking to his side.
Rusting iron
Though L K Advani is considered a better orator than Rajnath Singh, in the undeclared competition between the two rath yatras, the BJP president seems to have scored over the Leader of the Opposition in speech content. In the first lap of the yatra, Rajnath chose to speak on only topical issues and made his points in brief. Advani, however, kept reverting to the past and elaborating on his own personal experiences. A favourite subject was the attempt by Islamic terrorists to target him in Coimbatore. Advani insists on recounting the incident in great detail, in the process he loses the drift of his argument and the attention of his audience.
When he sought to whitewash his role in the Kandahar hijack release, he only succeeded in infuriating both Vajpayee and Jaswant Singh by indirectly pinning the blame on them.
Out-lawing in-laws
One has heard of husbands and wives Satyendra Narain Sinha and Kishori Sinha being MPs at the same time, mother and son teams Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, son and father MP teams Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh, and sister and brother in Parliament together Vasundhara Raje Scindia and the late Madhavrao Scindia. Rajiv Shukla of the Congress and Ravi Shankar Prasad of the BJP are perhaps the first brothers-in-law to be together in the Rajya Sabha. Shukla is married to Prasad8217;s sister, film and TV producer Anuradha. Recently both were appointed as spokespersons for their respective parties.
Although both take part regularly in debates on television, Prasad makes it a point never to appear on the same show as his brother-in-law. Once in the middle of a discussion Prasad realised that Shukla was being brought into the debate via satellite. When asked to comment on Shukla8217;s queries, Prasad refused to reply and remarked that if he had known that Shukla was on the programme he would have stayed away. A smart way to ensure harmony in a family with different political allegiances.
Settling legal debts
Sonia Gandhi has been credited with the decision to nominate Ram Jethmalani to Parliament in the eminent person8217;s category since no one else in the Congress would have dared to reward the Gandhi family8217;s former sworn enemy who had helped make Bofors a cause celebre and called Rajiv Gandhi all kinds of names. Sonia actually first opposed Jethamlani8217;s nomination but finally gave in because of pressure from Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Lalu is indebted to Jethmalani, who defended him in the fodder scam, and had promised him a Rajya Sabha ticket. Lalu kept his word at the expense of the UPA8217;s quota for nominated MPs. Jethmalani was appointed in place of Hindi journalist Vidya Niwas Misra, who died last year. Lalu argued that Jethmalani would prove useful in Parliament by training his guns on his former NDA colleagues.
Transfer on paper
The Vincent George camp in Sonia Gandhi8217;s secretariat was thrilled to learn that their rivals S V Pillai and Madhavan had to revert back to their government jobs and move out of 10 Janpath. But this is merely a temporary move, because someone recalled that Indira Gandhi was disqualified as an MP for using the services of Yashpal Kapoor for campaigning while he was still a government servant.The two men continue to be key aides of the Congress president.
