"In his new status as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, he knows that he will need wider acceptability a la Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He has to shed his Iron Man image and project himself as a flexible politician. His visit to 10 Janpath should be seen in that context," said a senior Congress leader and minister.

Epithets used by senior leaders to describe Advani's visit ranged from "drama", "charade" to "political masterstroke". They sought to decipher the political points Advani was purportedly trying to score through his visit. In one stroke, Advani, who recently rued communication gap between him and the Congress president, sent out a message — that he was ready to go an extra mile to bridge this gap, opined Congress sources.

His gesture to call on Sonia along with his wife to present his autobiography — despite the fact that she and the entire Congress had spurned his invitation to his book release function in the Capital last week — was in consonance with his advice to Rahul Gandhi during their chance meeting at an airport that the two mainstream parties were political adversaries, and not enemies.