Meanwhile, the Prime Minister in waiting while talking to Karan Thapar in a television interview spoke about the strained relations he shared with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and how difficult it was to bridge the gap. But it was only after a few days to the complete bewelderment of everybody that he went to her residence with a straight face and gifted her a copy of his book. While this generous gesture did not cut up any ice with the UPA chairperson, all he got as a reward were sniggers at his back by his own party men as well as Congress leaders.
Advani's recent revalations to a TV channel that he was not aware that Mr Jaswant Singh would be on the plane to Khandhar has been the cause of much bitterness among the BJP cadre. But his colleague and former Defence Minister George Fernandes was quick to retort that he was very much present in the meeting of senior Ministers where the decision to send Jaswant singh was taken unanimou- sly. It speaks a lot about Mr Advani's compulsions of twisting incidents and passing the buck on Khandhar to his party colleagues in keeping with his image building exercise.
More than that, the veteran BJP leader's irrespon- sible remark that Jaswant Singh might have consulted Vajpayee Ji leaves no room for the fact as to who is playing tricks with whom in a tussle for one upmanship. This direct attack on the former PM has left many of his admirers more than annoyed. That the senior leader has not reacted to the comment proves yet again that Mr Vajpayee is indeed a truebred statesman and Mr Advani is no match.
That there is many a slip between his written and spoken words was clear from yet another controversial statement which the BJP leader gave to Shekhar Gupta of the Walk and Talk fame. After blithely starting in his book that Mr Vajpayee want- ed Mr Modi to resign after Gujarat carnage while he was opposed to it, he has now retracted his position and said that he had indeed asked Mr Modi to resign but since it led to a hullabaloo in the Goa National Executive, he desisted from it. In yet another of his media exploitation trips, Mr Advani did the unforgivable by naming Mr Modi as his successor. While it totally militates against the Sangh Parivar ideology of collective leadership, the BJP may also find itself in the thick of embarrassing questions regarding targeting the Congress for its dynastic traditions. Moreover, the move has the potential of irking the next generation leaders of BJP no end.
As things stand, controversies surrounding the BJP leader's autobiograp- hical work just refuse to die down. It has now run into more trouble with CPI leadrer Satpal Dang taking umbrage over his portrayal as a dead person.
Sunita Vakil
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