A smile and a frown

It’s time someone in the BJP got Arun Jaitley a bigger cap. For Jaitley has managed to add one more feather to his already impressive electoral tally — scripting the win in Karnataka after the success in Bihar, Gujarat and Punjab earlier. Expectedly, the accolades are pouring in for the BJP’s chief strategist. Senior party leaders are singing paeans in his name while Delhi newspapers ran advertisements congratulating Jaitley for enabling his party to gain a toehold south of the Vindhyas for the first time. The ads showed Jaitley’s beaming face and also featured OP Sharma, his secretary. Now Jaitley may not mind sharing his hour in the sun with a trusted aide. But magnanimity has no place among politicians and Sharma’s new-found fame might not go down well with the rest in the party rank and file. That might spell trouble for Sharma and his boss, who undoubtedly knows that it takes little to turn a smile into a frown in the world of politics.

Backroom games

Not everyone is impressed with Arun Jaitley’s backroom skills, it seems. Take Nitish Kumar, for instance. The Bihar CM reportedly told LK Advani that had the BJP entered into an alliance with the JD(U) in Karnataka, it would have won an absolute majority in the state. A miffed Kumar also informed Advani that if the BJP were to implement its Karnataka model elsewhere, then the JD(U) too would have to take a fresh look at its alliance with the party, especially in Bihar. Advani was quick to get the drift of Kumar’s argument and tried to placate the JD(U) leader by saying that his party is unlikely to repeat what it did in Karnataka anywhere else in India. Meanwhile, sensing the strain in ties between the two allies, the Congress, one hears, has started fishing in these troubled waters. There is a buzz that Digvijay Singh is in touch with Nitish Kumar. Although there is little hope of the Congress stitching an alliance with the JD(U) as of now, the party think tank feels that it would gain by creating a rift between the two NDA allies before the polls. And we thought that performance, and not politicking, helps win elections in a democracy.

Business sense

The Mahatma had his experiments with truth. Behenji is busy with her own experiments too, those that are meant to deliver electoral gains only. After successfully co-opting the Brahmins and Dalits, Mayavati is now busy enticing banias and Brahmins into her fold. Former Congress ministers Akhilesh Das and Naresh Aggarwal, prominent leaders of the trading community, were welcomed to the party by Mayavati herself at functions in Lucknow. The BSP supremo’s antics have got the BJP, the original party of Brahmins and banias, worried. Desperate to stem the flow of supporters to the BSP camp, it appointed Vijay Goel as the national gen-sec. This was the first time that someone from the bania community was appointed to the post, although the party treasurer’s post is some sort of a monopoly of the banias. Meanwhile, for the traders, wooed desperately both by Mayavati and the BJP, business has never been this good.

n There are several gubernatorial positions in the offing and the queue for the jobs seems to be getting longer with every passing day. But the Congress leadership is divided on its choice of candidates. Tarun Gogoi, the Assam CM, is not keen on letting the outgoing governor, Ajai Singh, get a second term. Some in the party think that the Arunachal governor should be moved to Assam. For Jammu and Kashmir, the grapevine has it, a key PMO official wants the mantle to be passed to NN Vohra. However, others in the party feel that Vohra’s record as a point man in the state is nothing to write home about. Meanwhile, Goa governor SC Jamir apparently wants to be relieved of his duties on grounds of failing health. The mudslinging and inner party squabbles, some say, must have taken a toll on the poor man’s health.

Peaceful, easy feeling

After meeting the prime minister, Amar Singh was left feeling absolutely secure. All because Singh’s urgent pleas for Z-plus security were granted, now that the Congress is busy cosying up to the Samajwadi Party. Earlier, Singh’s request had been turned down by the home minister because he belonged to the wrong camp. Incidentally, Singh’s security cover had been withdrawn by Mayavati once she came to power in Uttar Pradesh. It is now back in place but will it be enough to protect Singh from Mayavati’s wrath?

Time of the hero

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. After a string of debacles, the Congress, according to party insiders, has decided to unleash its most potent weapon. It’s not Rahul Gandhi, silly, but Ghulam Nabi Azad. Chances are that Azad would be recalled from Jammu and Kashmir and given charge of the states that go to the polls next. Azad is not only considered to be the best organizer in the Congress, but he is also blessed with the Midas touch: he is credited with leading the party to victory in a clutch of states, including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Kerala and even in J&K where it was alleged that he had very little support. But the pundits say that the task may prove to be too much even for someone like Azad. Rising prices, inflation and a resurgent Opposition have queered the Congress’s pitch. Rather than play saviour, Azad, they say, should stay put at paradise on earth.