BJP pales before Cong's extra shine

A Pakistani newspaper vendor arranges magazines featuring the picture of the new Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which are displayed at his shop in Islamabad yesterday. Manmohan Singh, the 71-year-old soft-spoken Sikh economist who became prime minister of the world's largest democracy Saturday was born in the Pakistani village of Gah in Chakwal district, some 80km south of the capital Islamabad. PHOTO: AFP

Also, the party dominated the scene in the 13th Lok Sabha due to its Rajya Sabha members who could participate in Lok Sabha discussions as ministers. People with good oratorical skills like Jaswant Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Pramod Mahajan and Venkaiah Naidu (till they were ministers) and Ravi Shankar Prasad fell in this category. Among those missing, who could have made a difference in Lok Sabha debates are Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha, Ram Naik, Shahnawaz Hussain, Vinay Katiyar and Kirit Somayya. All of them were unceremoniously shown the door by the electorate.

Those who can still hold the fort for the BJP are Atal Behari Vajpayee (his pregnant pauses notwithstanding), LK Advani, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Sumitra Mahajan and Vinod Khanna. The BJP also has on its side veterans such as George Fernandes, Nitish Kumar, PA Sangma and Maneka Gandhi. Fernandes in particular remains a formidable parliamentarian (remember his stirring defence of the Morarji government in 1979). The new entrant Navjot Singh Sidhu would also be a special treat to watch. Whether he tones down his "Sidhuisms" and adds more substance to parliamentary debates remains to be seen. Kalyan Singh is the new veteran who has joined the new entrants from the BJP's side.

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On the ruling side there will be Sonia Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram, Mani Shakar Aiyar, Arjun Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, Jaipal Reddy, Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal, Jagdish Tytler, Shankersinh Vaghela, Santosh Mohan Dev, Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, Ajit Jogi, Sunil Dutt and Subodh Kant Sahay.