Opinion Losing streak
The infighting in the BJP on the issue of the prime ministerial candidate has come to the fore
Losing streak
* The infighting in the BJP on the issue of the prime ministerial candidate has come to the fore (Non-BJP,non-Cong PM feasible,says Advani,IE,August 6). Elections are due in 2014. So it was both immature and insensible of Advani to rake up this controversy. Such irresponsible statements by a political heavyweight only make the party look particularly silly. The BJP seems to be on the wane. It is simply unable to project itself as a credible alternative to the Congress. Perhaps Anna Hazares party could be a better alternative now.
S.P. Sharma
Its party time
* Anna Hazare took a wise decision by calling off the fast (Team Anna intention now clear: Govt,IE,August 3). Big movements with big goals must change strategies according to the need of the hour. Annas movement has stirred the people against corruption. It has now become the central issue for the next election. The government has claimed that the movement was political from the beginning. Not quite. It was the arrogance of the failed political class that provoked Team Anna to enter the political arena and to turn a non-political movement into a political fight. It is not clear what Hazare and his friends would do,but it is certain that the political class will be at the receiving end.
M.C. Joshi
* IT IS premature to ask if the party to be floated by Team Anna will be corruption-free. Elections nowadays are not fought and won on national issues. This makes Team Annas task all the more difficult. Lets hope the new party will be a catalyst for political change in India. The country has everything to gain from this development.
Ravindra Zinjurke
Ahmednagar
Baffling case
* I AM unable to understand why a bench of the apex court,on one side,flayed Sanjeev Nanda for running away after mowing down six people with his BMW and,on the other,ordered him to perform two years of community service and to pay Rs 50 lakh that will be used by the Centre to compensate the victims of road accidents in which erring drivers could not be traced (1999 BMW case: Sanjeev Nanda to walk away a free man,IE,August 3)? This verdict makes one wonder if the influential are not being treated with kid gloves.
Bidyut K. Chatterjee
Faridabad
Prime factor
* INDER MALHOTRAS When Shastri took ill (IE,August 6) shows how Lal Bahadur Shastri exhibited iron will and steely resolve as PM. He quietly appointed Swaran Singh as foreign minister (much to Indira Gandhis chagrin) because allocation of portfolios is the prime ministers prerogative. The PMs office does not exhibit that kind of authority now.
R.P. Subramanian
New Delhi
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