Where Modi dares

Atal Bihari Vajpayee may be Prime Minister but in Gujarat, it8217;s Narendra Modi8217;s will that runs. The Chief Minister scrapped the li...

Atal Bihari Vajpayee may be Prime Minister but in Gujarat, it8217;s Narendra Modi8217;s will that runs. The Chief Minister scrapped the list of appointments the PMO had fixed for Vajpayee during his daylong visit to the strife-torn State last week and substituted the names of people he thought Vajpayee should meet. So, out went activists like Mallika Sarabhai and Ela Bhatt who would have had quite a different story to tell. They had sought a meeting with the PM in Ahmedabad which the PMO had granted. But instead of them, Vajpayee found himself listening to representatives of BJP-supported traders8217; associations, doctors8217; groups and the like. And they obviously told the PM what Modi wanted him to hear. PMO aides are wondering who the CM thought he was fooling with his little tricks.

Sinha the scapegoat?

With BJP circles buzzing with speculation that Yashwant Sinha may be the chief target at this weekend8217;s National Executive Meet in Goa, the finance minister is in frenetic damage control mode these days. He8217;s lobbying with everybody who8217;s anybody in the BJP, from Vajpayee downwards, to deflect the party8217;s ire from him and his budget which is being blamed for the resounding defeat in the Delhi MCD polls. He8217;s believed to have pleaded with party president Jana Krishnamurthy to take inputs from him before finalising the economic resolution that will be passed in Goa. And he8217;s offered to brief national executive members on the rationale for his unpopular budget.

Unfortunately, he8217;s not finding much support within his disspirited party which is looking for a scapegoat for its dismal electoral performance. Even Advani for the first time, expressed his displeasure over Sinha8217;s proposals. Apparently, he telephoned the FM soon after the budget was presented and ticked him off for upsetting all sections of society.

Orissa8217;s ray of friction

The friction between the Biju Janata Dal and the BJP in Orissa has exploded into an all out war between Orissa Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik and BJP Union Minister for Tribal Welfare Jual Oram. Patnaik is blaming Oram for helping BJD rebel Dilip Ray win in the recent Rajya Sabha elections and he8217;s lodged his protest with Vajpayee. In fact, according to Navin8217;s confidantes, he8217;s demanded Oram8217;s ouster from the Union Cabinet.

Ray8217;s unexpected victory was a major blow for Patnaik who used every trick in the book to block him. He even persuaded a reluctant Congress to put up a candidate even though the party didn8217;t have the numbers to win a seat. He thought this would stop Ray from bagging Congress votes. What he didn8217;t account for was a break in the BJP8217;s ranks. Six BJP MLAs signed Ray8217;s nomination form although the party had decided to field a candidate. Patnaik blew fuse and came running to Delhi to complain to Vajpayee. But it was too late. Ray sailed through the election, with a little help from crossvoting by the Congress, the BJP and Patnaik8217;s BJD. And now he8217;s threatened to bring Patnaik down. It seems the six BJP MLAs who proposed Ray8217;s candidature are from Oram8217;s tribal belt. The gloves are off now and the BJD is bracing itself for fireworks in the coming months.

Rough weather for Shahnawaaz

CIVIL Aviation Minister Shahnawaaz Hussain8217;s 8216;8216;gift8217;8217; to the Northeastern States, an international flight from Guwahati to Bangkok, went slightly sour. At the eleventh hour, Hussain was told by the PMO that he could not take the Chief Ministers of the region with him on the inaugural flight. Poor Hussain had to apologise to the three CMs who had flown to Guwahati and were virtually left standing on the tarmac while Hussain flew off with a planeload of MLAs and scribes.