Why did it take the BJP four days to disown Sushma Swaraj’s comment on the bomb blasts? Swaraj actually repeated the absurd charge of blaming the Congress government for the terror attack a day after she first made the original claim while attending an NDA function. L K Advani trod cautiously, not wanting to create further schisms in the already divided party. Many assumed that party president Rajnath Singh had cleared Swaraj’s comment. Singh was on tour and could not be contacted immediately. Matters came to a head after a BJP MP declared that if senior leaders were permitted to vent their personal views to the embarrassment of the party then he wanted to hold a press conference to spell out his personal opinion on the nuclear deal. After Singh clarified that he was clueless about the Swaraj comment, party spokesperson Prakash Javdekar was made to disassociate the BJP from her remarks.

Guess who’s the guest?

Bhaskar Ghose quit his job as head of the Lok Sabha TV channel in May. Ghose says he was over 70 and decided to bow out. Insiders point out that the relationship between Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Ghose soured over the selection of guests on the channel. Congress MPs were furious when a lengthy interview with Gandhi family baiter, Subramanian Swamy, was telecast. Despite orders from high ups, the programme was repeated because of an oversight on the part of the scheduling department. Similarly, an interview with RSS leader Madan Das Devi also evoked outrage.

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