Vote on menu, parties fix dinner to get taste of what lies ahead

However if the n-deal is served for starters, the lal salam-dalal salam discourse, that has gained currency in last one week, is sure to be the main course in addition to spiraling food prices and good governance as the dessert.

The NDA chief ministers and party presidents of its constituents assemble in Delhi on July 17 to fine-tune the menu.

Working overtime to dish out a masterstroke, the Congress, on the other hand, hopes to give its MPs a twin treat spread across two days. The party is, however, sorely missing its master chef Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, said to be recuperating after a minor surgery. Acutely aware that too many cooks could end up spoiling the broth, the party is nonetheless only too eager to whet the appetite of many luminaries who would have, under normal circumstances, never made to the Congress invitees’ list.

With party president Sonia Gandhi away in Hyderabad for a day, the Congress president will meet all state MPs on July 19 who are expected to hold their own dinners that evening. The next day, the Prime Minister, too, will have a dinner for MPs belonging to the party and the UPA alliance.

While the Congress and the BJP are engaged in a game of one-upmanship, the once socialists don’t want to be left behind, especially when they figure as the centrespread of the unfolding political khichdi.

The Samajwadi Party, that has held its last few Parliament session-eve meeting-cum-dinners in the Imperial and the Ashoka, is likely to have one this time round on July 20, though the venue has not been finalized. Party general secretary Amar Singh counts his 27, Lodi Estate residence as one of the three most important addresses in Delhi (along with Sonia Gandhi’s 10, Janpath and L K Advani’s 30 Prithviraj Road).

So his home may be just as good for the party MPs, but one can only speculate about the menu. It’s likely that Barack “Hussein” Obama — this is the way Amar Singh refers to the Presidential candidate these days, perhaps to sugar the America pill — is an accompanying dish with the nuclear deal.

The much-expected N Chandrababu Naidu-Mayawati meeting, probably on July 20, may not immediately result in a formal dinner date but for many it’s no less than a storm in a teacup. Similarly, when Lalu Prasad Yadav calls his MPs for “jalpan” (refreshment) on July 19, his party MPs will have reasons to look beyond his new found love for “party’s foreign policy resolution”.

While the Left has taken most of the flak during the ongoing crisis, its two main constituents, the CPM and the CPI, will meet in AKG Bhawan and Ajoy Bhawan respectively, on July 20 to discuss why George Bush is a greater threat than their bugbear of the past — “communalism.” Given what the Left has forced down everybody’s throat, chances are the meal will be spartan. One among the flock, known for throwing dinners with mouthwatering hilsa delicacies, would in the meantime, be content licking the wounds inflicted by their very own.

There could be a handful of gatecrashers, though, who could make or break the trust vote. Amar Singh, after all, was labeled a gatecrasher only four years ago. That’s, as the cliche goes, food for thought this season.