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Politics Business Expressions General Sports Leisure States 03 February 1998   I'm the face, not the mask: Atal In a signal both to hardliners within his party and to the electorate, BJP shadow prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has made it clear that he, and not party President L K Advani, would head a BJP-led government after the elections. Coming after the "mask" episode and the controversy over the inclusion of his "distorted" article on the BJP's website on the Internet, Vajpayee's remarks are being read as a veiled warning to hawks in the BJP that he is here to stay.   MLAs force Vaghela to go back to Cong for alliance Bowing to the demands of the majority of the 45-odd legislators of his Rashtriya Janata Party, Shankarsinh Vaghela did a volte-face yesterday on electoral ties with the Congress and initiated efforts to enter into some sort of tie-up with the party. Vaghela had snapped off ties with the Congress after the party offered him nine of the 16 Lok Sabha seats. Chhindwara will witness an interesting clash of Titans The Chhindwara constituency of Madhya Pradesh is all set to witness a keen contest between the Congress and BJP in the Lok Sabha election on February 22. The contest has attracted attention because the Congress nominee here is former Union minister Kamal Nath while the BJP candidate is former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Sunderlal Patwa. Sinha discusses LoC case with legal experts Assam Governor S K Sinha, who arrived in New Delhi on Feb 1, is said to have met former Chief Justice J S Verma and Attorney General Ashok Desai. The meetings were described as informal but sources said the Governor apparently discussed the legal position of the charge-sheet against Chief Minister Prafulla Mahanta in the Letters of Credit (LoC) scam.   Boycott by TN party unit leaves PM speechless A near complete boycott by the entire Tamil Nadu unit of the Janata Dal to I K Gujral has left the Prime Minister I K Gujral rather peeved about visit to Chennai. The boycott by the JD leaders has been prompted by the DMK-TMC alliance not conceding the party a single seat in Tamil Nadu. None of the JD leaders, including its state unit president G A Vadivelu were present at the airport to receive him. Sonia factor to help Cong attack CPM bastion A major beneficiary of the Sonia factor in Andhra Pradesh thus far is former chief minister Nadendla Bhaskara Rao. From an uncertain political future, he has not only managed to secure a Congress ticket for the Lok Sabha elections, but emerged as a potential threat to the CPM in its stronghold, Khammam. Known for its ideological consciousness, Khammam district was always a Left stronghold and the Khammam Lok Sabha constituency - comprising Khammam, Kothagudem, Palair, Madhira, Yellandu, Sujathnagar and Sattupalli assembly segments - a CPM bastion.     A son rises in the snow to inherit family's clout   Chavan kin gets Nanded ticket   EC won't alter Kashmir dates   Activist Dharmadikari gears up for poll battle   Badal rains down diatribe on Cong over Sonia issue   A fifth block jostles for space in UP poll arena   Sonia will deliver fatal blow to BJP   Gujral takes no chances despite Akali bravado   Rising saffron wave upsets equations in AP   BJP has an axe to grind with ex-IAS man despite RSS links   Novel governance, the ZP way   SS-BJP charged with sidestepping poll code   Orissa demands additional para-military forces during polls   Now, Kenia moves to SP   HC rejects petition against EC   Sena-BJP may win SP-JD battle   United Front "split" in State too   Munde blames Cong for tribals' plight