Welcome to the show

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) brass attended the oath-taking ceremony of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and his council of ministers in Srinagar on Sunday. Those present included not just Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah but also members of the BJP's 'Margdarshak Mandal' or mentor group, L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi. People were intrigued at Advani and Joshi being present at the event, for the two have remained largely ignored ever since the BJP reconstituted its parliamentary board, its highest decision-making body, and moved the two senior leaders to be part of its newly constituted 'Margdarshak Mandal'. According to people who have watched the BJP-PDP negotiations closely, it was Sayeed himself who invited Advani and Joshi to the swearing-in ceremony and the BJP leadership was left with little option but to acquiesce.