New equations emerge

New equations have been forged in the BJP after Narendra Modi’s recent electoral triumph. The second generation BJP leadership is now fully behind L.K. Advani though most of them had distanced themselves from the senior leader on the Jinnah issue. BJP President Rajnath Singh has mended fences with Sushma Swaraj, whom he is promoting in a bid to contain the Modi-Jaitley axis. Singh also seems to have subtly helped unite the BJP chief ministers against Modi by going out of the way to hail the Modi model of governance at the party’s recent national convention and thus prick other CMs’ egos. As Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundara Raje remarked sharply, “We all have our own models of governance.” Modi, however, is content to take the backseat at the national level for the present. He has his eyes on 2014 and not 2009.

Guest relations

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was a troublesome guest during his one-day visit to India. He kept Indian security on tenterhooks by frequently changing his programme. Arrangements were made to seal Lodhi Gardens since he wanted to take a morning jog. At the last moment he changed his mind. A private dinner scheduled at a five-star hotel was abruptly cancelled. Sarkozy insisted on travelling to Agra to see the Taj despite being warned by his hosts that there was a time constraint. The traditional at-home at Rashtrapati Bhavan was delayed by over half an hour as a consequence. At the garden party several members of the French delegation puffed away at their cigarettes oblivious of the fact that Rashtrapati Bhavan is a no-smoking area.

In contrast, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife Sara, who were in Delhi just a few days earlier, went out of their way to make sure that their visit did not cause any inconvenience. They insisted that patients should not be debarred from entering the hospital during their visit to a maternity centre in Nangloi. At the Vishwa Yuvak Kendra, the Browns emphasised that they should be fitted into the pre-existing programme and no alterations made on their account.

Restricted entry

For the last few years the practice at the Republic Day garden party at Rashtrapati Bhavan is for the president and a few VIP guests to remain in a cordoned-off enclosure. Other guests can only shake hands over a barricade. Minister for State for Home Suresh Pachauri wanted to enter the enclosure but was rebuffed by the guard on duty even though he protested that he was a minister and he could see at least two ministers of state inside the hallowed area. The orderly muttered that he only took instructions from his superior and refused to yield.

Of cats, rats and rabbits

Despite his gruff exterior and his impatience with fools, Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee has a wry sense of humour. Recalling how his experience as a finance minister helped him as a defence minister, Mukherjee said he deliberately presented an inflated figure to the finance ministry since he was aware that the ministry routinely scaled down the requested amount drastically. He informed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was called in by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to mediate, “I am an old cat of the finance ministry and will take a fat rat with me for my new ministry.”

Mukherjee in fact pulled a rabbit out of his hat by getting even more than his ministry had bargained for.