Senior BJP leaders wish to become party spokespersons, but lack fluency

Fuming in the corner
 

Many senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders seethe when they find they are being given a go-by but newcomers in the party become the new face of the BJP on TV cameras. Everyone likes to be seen on TV but it is an acquired talent. Naturally, the BJP wants to maximise its advantage by fielding those who criticise their erstwhile parties in most trenchant terms. Some of the (new) spokespersons include Gaurav Bhatia (formerly with the Samajwadi Party), Tom Vadakkan (ex-Congressman and a staunch Gandhi family loyalist before he joined the BJP) and Baijayant Jay Panda (ex Biju Janata Dal or BJD). Many senior leaders of the BJP would like to replace some of the above but they either don’t have the bandwidth or the fluency to make the cut. 

A possible exception is Panda who had defended the Modi government on demonetisation, the GST and the economy even during his BJD days. Back then, he used to laugh and say that the answer lay in his name — his initials are BJP, BaiJayant Panda!

Payback time

Heads are going to roll in the BJP Jharkhand unit. The first to go could be Om Mathur, the man New Delhi had deputed to oversee the election in which even the chief minister lost. It seems Mathur was “complicit” in everything Raghbar Das did, including making light of Saryu Roy, the man who defeated the latter. Das is reported to have told Mathur Roy wouldn’t get more than 10,000 voted: He defeated the CM by a margin of 76,000!

Also, the BJP had ordered 500 kg of laddoos ahead of the results. Wonder what happened to those?