Little surprise then, that, the team working on the project is mighty impressed by Barack Obama’s website. Visitors to BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar’s 26 Tughlak Crescent residence are often given a lowdown on the Democrat’s website barackobama.com.

“I’ve not seen the website, but the team does talk about it,” admits Advani. Some 25 laptops have been installed for his makeover project at Ananth Kumar’s home that Advani calls an “extension of his office”.

While a section within the party has been whispering about “a parallel office” and “promotion of a personality cult”, Advani brushes aside the charge. “It’s an extension of my office. Whether it’s the unveiling of the site or other events, the 11, Ashoka Road BJP office alone is the centre.”

Sudheendra Kulkarni, described as “a close friend and colleague” by the BJP leader in his book, conceived the project. Others in his team include Bora, research scholar Zorawar Daulet Singh and a few journalists working with RSS publications. Bora is an IIM alumnus while Singh majored in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University. They also worked on Advani’s autobiography where they find mention.

The 11 Ashoka Road party office, made IT-friendly recently with multiple wi-fi points, will soon be connected to Advani’s residence (and the Tughlak Crescent “extension office”), Rajnath Singh’s residence and all state party offices by ten-digit hotline numbers (modelled on the Government three-digit telephone numbers).

Top party guns have already been given official IDs and partymen will be encouraged to communicate with them directly.

... contd.