By IANS,
New Delhi : Lal Krishna Advani, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial hopeful, could never have imagined that he would be measured up against US President George W. Bush but that’s exactly what happened Saturday – courtesy the Samajwadi Party.
All keyed up with his new love for the Congress-led government, Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh told reporters: “L.K. Advani is more lethal than George Bush.”
His reasoning was that his party had to choose between the secular and non-secular forces but the political reasoning apart, the remark is sure to raise the hackles of both Advani and Bush.
Amar Singh, of course, doesn’t have to live with Bush, whose term ends in January, but he certainly will have to live with Advani, whether or not the BJP comes to power after next year’s general elections.
Advani, thus far, has maintained a stunned silence but the wily politician most certainly must be crafting an appropriate response.
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CPI-M’s last days of glory for now
At the headquarters of the Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M) crowds have started thinning out. The media in droves is now descending on the Samajwadi Party (SP) office on Copernicus Lane and Amar Singh’s residence in Lodi Estate.
The restless souls among the Left leaders who long been fed up with playing footsie with the Manmohan singh government are having a quiet laugh.
The days under the strobe lights with eager-beaver journalists crowding the lawns and milling around A.K. Gopalan Bhawan – the CPI-M headquarters – are drawing to an end, quickly.
The media is rapidly transferring its attention from Marxists to Socialists.
Instead of Prakash Karat – CPI-M general secretary – we now have Amar Singh looming large on the television screen every second minute.
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Chautala swings from prediction of glory to doom
Two days ago former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala made a prediction before fatigued journalists – wilting from a scorching sun and endless hours of waiting for the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) meeting to end.
Chautala had declared the UNPA would come to power at the centre after the nuclear deal crisis was over.
Few scribes were convinced, though the former chief minister of Haryana looked every bit as earnest as a sincere schoolboy.
That was two days ago.
In keeping with the rash about-turns and the startlingly contradictory statements that are following one after another, Chautala Saturday afternoon, blamed the Samajwadi Party for ruining the UNPA.
Instead of moving up the power ladder the UNPA was hurtling towards wilderness, he now predicted.