Opinion Curious turnout

Step by step

Next March is an important month for Varun Gandhi. He turns 31 and he plans to get married to his long time girlfriend. The Assam assembly elections will be held that month and Gandhi,who has been put in charge of the BJP’s election campaign,is keen to prove himself. He is the only one of the eight party secretaries to be entrusted with such a responsibility. When he joined the BJP,Varun was thought to be a young man in too much of a hurry and was disappointed when he did not climb the political ladder fast enough. Varun now appears reconciled to the Sangh Parivar’s step by step approach and has consequently mellowed. In the past year,his speeches have focussed largely on issues like poverty and youth welfare. Hindutva is mentioned without any crude articulation. Varun seems to have set his sights on eventually becoming president of the UP state BJP,which is in complete disarray despite being former party president Rajnath Singh’s home state.

Glass houses

The main topic of discussion in Parliament’s Central Hall last week was the proposed hike in the salaries of MPs. Battlelines were drawn clearly with Lalu Yadav taking on the role of ring leader for the cause. Feisty Congress MP Mabel Rebello was a hero for ticking off a senior legal luminary on a TV talk show,who mocked the MPs’ demand for more money. Rebello responded by questioning the leading standing counsel on how much he charged for a one-minute appearance in court. The lawyer,taken aback by the focus shifting to himself,suddenly softened his objections. Particularly as the large figure mentioned was in fact a fraction of his usual rate.

No killer instinct

Whereas Congresspersons once remarked on the similarities between Sonia Gandhi and Indira Gandhi,they are now more keen to cite the differences. Unlike her late mother-in-law,Sonia Gandhi lacks the killer instinct which has led to a drift in party and government. How to deal with rebel Jaganmohan Reddy is one striking example. Sonia clearly has a more forgiving nature than Indira who never forgot a slight. She has gone out of her way to patch up some old family feuds and is back on speaking terms with Nina Singh,Ramola Bachchan and Nayantara Sehgal.

Food for thought

Janata Dal (U) president Sharad Yadav decided on a whim to attended the at-home party at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Independence Day last Sunday along with his wife. It was a first for Yadav,who says he had not visited the President’s residence for the function even when he was a minister in the Vajpayee government. But Yadav,after spending just a few minutes at the party,decided instead to explore the premises. The socialist leader chatted with employees and learnt that the sprawling estate houses some 20,000 employees. That gave the JD(U) president some food for thought. His point is that the budget for maintaining the president of India in all its splendour is more than the combined salaries of all our MPs.