Jayanthi Natarajan: Our differences are too deep-rooted for our parties to engage in a constructive dialogue even though it would be an ideal situation. The reason for me is that the BJP consistently narrows down the dialogue and the level of discourse eventually boils down to ‘dynasty’. Being someone’s son or daughter does not preclude anyone from joining politics. It happens in every party. One BJP spokesperson recently said that the senior Congress leaders should stop being pets. A few days ago in Kanpur before Advani’s rally, there were posters of Advaniji posing as Lord Ram killing the Indian Prime Minister depicted as a vulture. This is the level of discourse which bothers me. Many BJP leaders are above it, but there are still some who are a party to this. The kind of personal abuse that is heaped upon Mrs Sonia Gandhi by senior BJP leaders can’t lead to any sort of dialogue.

I believe that regional parties are important in a country as diverse as India and our dialogue with regional parties is vital for maintaining that diversity.

Ravi Shankar Prasad: We have our differences. But we have made efforts. Advaniji went to Sonia Gandhi to give her a copy of his biography. In the first instance, Abhishek Singhvi said that it was a good thing. The next day, however, there was a chorus of protests from the Congress saying how dare he give her a copy of the book which contains critical references to the Congress So, there have been attempts to make contact, formally or informally.

... contd.