Flash?Update – The BJP follows up with a signal it will participate in debate??
He called him weakest ever
He returned the favor questioning his moral authority
His cohorts called him sad and helpless
His loudmouths returned the favor calling him disappointed and disillusioned
So what exactly were they thinking when Leader of the Opposition and former BJP President L.K. Advani called up Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ?
The PTI reports:
Concerned about the safety of Indians residing in wildfire-hit US state of California, Leader of the Opposition LK Advani today spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to enquire about their well being. Advani telephoned Singh to know whether the Government had any information about Indians affected by the raging fire in southern California and any steps being taken to ensure their safety.
The ostensible reason for Mr. Advani’s concern that prompted a phone call
California has a sizeable Indian population, majority of them businessmen from Gujarat.
But there probably was more to the call than concerns of a distant wildfire, what with a political firestorm raging in the capital. How do we know this, well the Prime Minister promised to call back
The Prime Minister informed Advani that he did not have any information off-hand and would get back to him
Yesterday Offstumped had speculated on possible scenarios that might emerge with the Left and UNPA coming together on the Indo-US Nuclear deal. Offstumped had observed that an optimistic but less probable scenario was the UPA seizing on Brajesh Mishra’s comments of a possible meeting ground for the BJP and the UPA on the Indo-US Nuclear Deal. In the last few days multiple op-ed columns in the media have called upon Manmohan Singh to reach out to the BJP setting aside the acrimony to secure the nation’s interests. Nitin writing in the Acorn highlighted once again the damage to India’s credibility that is inevitable if the deal goes down the toilet as is evident from the current state of affairs.
The move by Mr. Advani in calling the Prime Minister directly, instead of the letter diplomacy that he has been engaging in of late ,is a signal and an important one. Despite the acrimony and the personalized attacks, the Government and the principal Opposition are still on talking terms.
While it is still early days one cannot rule out a track two diplomatic effort to bring the two together on the Nuclear Deal. The cause for optimism are the efforts by the US India Political Action Committee, USINPAC.
Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi must ponder on the question on how generations of Indians to come will judge them on the damage to India’s credibility.
Was it too difficult to set aside domestic political compulsions to reach out to the principal opposition on an issue of “supreme national interest” ?
Mr. Advani made an important gesture that they can still be on talking terms.
Will Dr. Singh reciprocate with some terms to talk ?
Filed under: Uncategorized
Actually, what struck me was the immense stupidity of the Congress spokesmen who began calling Vajpayee and Advani names. I would have thought that the smart thing is not to alienate people who might be be your allies (on the issue)…
I’d say Advani’s move is a positive one. I noticed Cmde Uday Bhaskar had a piece in Rediff this week arguing that the BJP must support the Congress on this issue.
Not only will it demonstrate the BJP’s commitment to the national interest, but will also be a shrewd political move. Observers (like your’s truly) have criticised the BJP for being a NOT gate, opposing everything while not disrupting parliament. This is a good time to demonstrate that when it comes to the crunch, they will act in the national interest.
But let’s also accept that if they don’t, their remaining claim to be the most credible party on national security will ring hollow—no one, other than the most die-hard hawks, takes the “deal is not in our interests” argument seriously.
i don’t see how congress and BJP can push the deal without left’s support.. Even assuming that BJP would agree to vote in favor of the deal, that wud inevitably make the left withdraw support leading to the fall of the govt.
i think courting bjp for N-deal is a non-option for congress.
Nitin – there maybe some credence to the reports that the party and PMO may not be entirely working in tandem. It will take a leap of faith by both to make this happen but the congress will have to make the move.
Jujung – you are right in saying it will irrepairably damage relations between the Left and the UPA. The only way this can play out is where the deal itself is not put to vote but perhaps this proposed national legislation is either put to vote or atleast introduce and referred to a JPC. The Govt then takes that as the sense of parliament to move ahead on the deal. The left can withdraw support but unless the BJP votes with the Left in a no-confidence motion the government doesnt fall. By the time all of this plays out the Government moves ahead with IAEA and gets the U.S. Congress to get its process underway. How long the government totters as a Minority Govt is anybody’s guess, perhaps until an early “please all” budget is passed.
[...] sourced here [...]
And I thought Shane Warne was the greatest spinner !!
You are thrusting virtue on LKA. A call to PM is great gesture? Generations will also judge whether BJP put “supreme national interest” above competetive politics to see the deal through !!
And BJP signals that it will participate in a debate?? I wonder if I too can signal to my boss that if I come to office I will work !!! And hope that he will be grateful to me for this gesture !!
:P
Assuming LKA made the first move, it is still a very, very tall order for the two leaders – LKA and MMS to get their respective parties to back the proposal of “BJP supporting Congress” and “Congress taking support from BJP”. Agreeing to have a parliamentary debate does not amount to supporting the deal ! This may be a trap by the BJP for the Congress to fall for – so that they can further embarrass the Govt once it is put up for a debate. I therefore doubt if the two sides can work togather on this issue – unless both Vajpayee and Advani give and honour their commitment to vote in favour of the deal if it is put to vote in the Parliament. I doubt if the BJP can take such a public U-turn at this stage…
The level of trust between the two sides is abysmally low. Nitin’s comment “immense stupidity of the Congress spokesmen who began calling Vajpayee and Advani names” was quite inexplicable simply because BJP has been habitually making personal comments against both the PM and Sonia on a regular basis and possibly thought that they can keep getting away by doing it ! Very recently, the senile BJP spokesman, Ravi Shankar Prasad, attacked the PM with derogatory words. After that Arun Jaitley came up with an unnecessary remark on the PM.
Who can forget the extremely derogatory remark made by Arun Shourie about Pratibha Patil calling her a thief ? BJP has simply made a habit of “gutter politics”.
“Arun Shourie about Pratibha Patil calling her a thief ? BJP has simply made a habit of “gutter politics”.”
Are you saying Pratibha Patil, who stole 5 crores, is not a thief? I guess that’s the way it work in the family party – thieves are given a promotion! Gutter boys will know what gutter politics is. The only thing these gutter boys can come with is Vajpayee and Advani couldn’t get along well – media created sensation of few months in a 40 year friendship. So much living in the gutter.
In a country where poeple justify and support gutter politics, it has no option but to be goverened by a Third-front led Govt!…
I am reproducing some excerpts from the article written by late Shamlal.
In a Jungle of Theories
“Keeping a large and diverse society going is not a matter of allowing a hundred schools of thought to contend. It is more a problem of evolving procedures which allow coherent policies to be framed even in the absence of a general agreement on every contentious issue. Consensus-building, an over-used phrase, does not mean elimination of all differences. All it implies is a decision-making process in which the views of minority groups are given due weight but the majority view prevails where disagreements are hard to resolve and those who cannot have things their way refrain from taking the issue to the street.”
The onus lies on UPA govt. to act in statesman like manner and invite BJP for consensus building on the Nuclear Deal. Initiative has to come from the ruling coalition to the main opposition party to save the deal.
If UPA is in the present mess, why blame opposition party for it?
Incidentally, Gujarati media have carried report that Narendra Modi telephoned MMS for the plight of California based NRIs. MMS assured NM that he’d gather the facts and do the needful.
We are ruled by pygmies in the garb of giants. I bet they cannot refrain from messing the things up.
In the consensus building process for the Indo-US Nuclear deal, MMS had always kept the BJP in the loop through it’s pointman – Brajesh Mishra ! BJP’s new found objections to the deal were never highlighted – until the deal was sealed & signed…
If anyone wants to believe that BJP’s concerns against the Indo-US Nuclear deal are genuine, he can hoodwink himself ! This has been nothing but a tactical political move by the BJP to put the Govt in the dock. With this track record, under no circumstances can the BJP leaders be trusted to work togather to see a smooth passage of the deal !
BJP’s main intention is to first bring down the Govt, come to power, and then operationalise the deal and take the glory for it.
What they will possibly manage to do is bring down the Govt, and in that process help a Third-front led Govt to come to power – and parmanently jeopardise the Nuclear deal.
Posterity will judge the current BJP leaders vey harshly for the disservice they have done to the nation.