Long regency

Long regency

Narendra Modi picked up the term 'nightwatchman' to describe Manmohan Singh's role in government from a speech made in Parliament by Arun Jaitley some years ago. Jaitley, with his cricketing background, was referring to the task assigned to a cricketer, usually a bowler or a wicket-keeper, to hold the crease during adverse conditions so that the game can be kept alive for the regular batsmen to resume the next day. Some Congresspersons had protested at that time, assuming Jaitley was comparing the prime minister to a watchman. Since a nightwatchman seldom notches up a high score, Jaitley now concedes that the term was probably inappropriate. Manmohan Singh has had a longer innings than such star batsmen as Rajiv Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Rather than nightwatchman that implies a temporary position, the term regent would be more appropriate for Manmohan Singh. The Prime Minister has been keeping the seat warm for Rahul Gandhi and it is proving to be a very long regency.

Eventful return?

Pervez Musharraf has announced that he plans to end his exile and return to Pakistan by the end of the month in time for the elections. In order to drum up some publicity for his visit, the former president has hired an event management website. The website has sent e-mails to journalists around the world suggesting they book their passage to Pakistan for the D-day. Clearly, the response was not as enthusiastic as Musharraf had hoped since he has subsequently been tweeting about air tickets to Pakistan still being available.

No longer waiting

A significant line in Narendra Modi's speech at the recent BJP National Council meeting was, "Who is the candidate does not matter much in the BJP. We should keep the lotus at the forefront." This was Modi's indirect way of telling his detractors in the party that he is not going to continue to play the waiting game and cool his heels unless his name is formally announced as the prime ministerial candidate. Encouraged by the groundswell of support from cadres and state leaders, Modi has planned a series of public rallies throughout the country. In Mumbai, he is to speak at the Somaiya grounds in Sion, an even bigger ground than the Shivaji Stadium. The stop-Modi-at-any-cost campaign within a section of the party leadership had at one stage mooted the idea that Modi should not speak at the BJP National Council since it would be unfair to single him out among all the chief ministers. But they backtracked later sensing the mood of the cadres. L K Advani, who tried to project Sushma Swaraj and Shivraj Singh Chouhan as alternative leaders, got little response. In fact, by the time he spoke, many of the delegates had left the hall.

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