‘The Tribune-Chatterati’22nd.March.2010

The new team of the BJP created by the middle aged President Gadkari is great lip service. Keeping in mind the 33 percent women quota he has adjusted the retired actresses Hema Malini and Smriti Irani. To them politics is a pass time whereas for the BJP it adds to the glamour quotient. Vasundhara Raje is the only lady General Secretary with substance.
The new BJP President Gadkari has coolly ignored his detractors and has put all the right hand men of the leaders who matter in the BJP and the RSS in plum posts. The new youth as they call it is hardly youth. The dynastic one’s like Anurag Thakur and Poonam Mahajan will be adjusted in the youth BJP. An interesting flash point that erupted immediately following the President’s new team was in Bihar. Shotgun piqued by other irritations has raised the obvious question as to why Yashwant was ignored at the cost of Ravi Shankar. Bihar is important because the BJP in partnership with JDU will soon be in election mode in that state. The real test is of course whether Gadkari stands his ground or whether Shotgun’s fulmination results in Gadkari having to change his team.
Inevitably, Gadkari’s choices will continue to be the subject of political whispering campaigns for a while more. But while Delhi waits for the famed for the AICC reshuffle Gadkari’s blood letting and team gathering show that this is a leader who is just getting to his scene two of his act one.
Shatrughan Sinha wants a Rajya Sabha berth from Bihar for his wife Punam, a former actress. The BJP, which has 54 MLAs in the Bihar Assembly, can ensure victory of only one candidate in the biennial Rajya Sabha polls due in April-May. Two in a family is not a problem here. Vasundhara Raje’s son and relatives and many others leaders are already adjusted.
Punam has campaigned extensively for her husband in the Patna Sahib constituency from where he won with a huge margin. The BJP keeps talking about 33 percent reservation for women but as a matter of fact, it refrains from giving even 10 percent representations for the fair sex. Also, the party is yet to send a woman to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar is Shotgun’s argument.
Shotgun was the first Bollywood star to join the BJP when it was a two – MP party in the opposition. He has contributed towards building the party. Despite his stature and popularity, he is neither a General Secretary nor a member of the Parliamentary board. What is wrong if he is seeking a Rajya Sabha berth for his wife?