Party politics and religion

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

The hot political news of the week was, not surprisingly, the change of guard in the BJP. But while Marathi newspapers gave prominent coverage to the events around the stepping-down decision of L K Advani, the actual announcement by Advani about his resignation and Rajnath Singh's take over as BJP president, made it only to the inside pages of Lokasatta and Sakal. Since the announcement was made on New Year's Eve, and January 1 was a Sunday, perhaps the newspapers preferred to carry lighter stories on the front page.

However, in their Monday editions, both newspapers carried edits on Rajnath Singh's appointment. Another prominent newspaper, Maharashtra Times, carried front-page stories on Rajnath's takeover, but didn't make any editorial comment on the move. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's allegation that the new BJP president has a cosy relationship with the mafia in the state also found place on the inside pages of Sakal and Maharashtra Times.

The week-long BJP national convention in Mumbai was also given its due by the Marathi press. Of special interest to the regional papers was former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's announcement of his retirement from active politics. Vajpayee's comparison of party general secretary Pramod Mahajan with Laxman was followed up by Loksatta with a story "Ramayana in BJP's ongoing Mahabharat" and off-the-record responses by Mahajan's detractors in the party.

While Tamil daily Dinamalar made analytical comments on the Advani-Rajnath issue, it gave front-page coverage of the takeover for four days running. The stories ranged from Advani's resignation and his continuing as the leader of the opposition, to Rajnath saying that he may bring in changes in the party at the administration level.

Rajnath's appointment, however, recieved a lukewarm response in the Telugu press. All Andhra dailies, including Eenadu, Vaartha and Andhra Jyothi, carried a photograph of Advani congratulating the new party chief, but confined the news to the inside pages on Sunday. However, Vaartha carried a few value-add stories, including a story on Advani reiterating that he would stick to the comments that he had made on Pakistan's founder father Mohammad Ali Jinnah, besides a profile of Singh. With events like Kalachakra and the Indian Science Congress taking place in the state early in the week, the dailies dedicated their front pages on Monday to the Buddhist tantrik event. On Tuesday, Eenadu splashed an interview of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, who arrived in the city to participate in the Indian Science Congress, as the lead, and Vaartha dedicated two inside pages to Kalachakra.