Stars may douse BJP fire

With “inauspicious” shrad period beginning from Saturday and the RSS playing a watchdog role, top BJP leaders expect a breather to their inner party turmoil.

With “inauspicious” shrad period beginning from Saturday and the RSS playing a watchdog role, top BJP leaders expect a breather to their inner party turmoil.

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Even the BJP’s central election committee, which met Friday evening, released just four names of candidates for the by-polls in UP. Senior leader Lalji Tandon failed to get ticket for his son for Lucknow west seat.

The names of BJP candidates for the polls in Maharashtra and Haryana, where the BJP stakes are higher, are to be announced only after the inauspicious period, which ends September 17.

Party officials recall that VK Malhotra’s candidature as the party’s chief minister candidate for Delhi was decided during the shrad period, and the BJP fared poorly in the polls.

The tussle between BJP chief Rajnath Singh and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is supposed to have an astrological angle to it.

While Raje’s astrologers advised her to delay her resignation as Leader of Opposition till end of this month, Singh’s pundits had told him to secure her exit before September 4.

Raje failed to turn up for a meeting with senior Venkaiah Naidu, which was supposed to secure her resignation letter. Instead, she sent her son to explain that she was running a viral fever.

RSS chief meets Vajpayee

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday met former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to inquire about his health.

It was his first meeting with Vajpayee since he succeeded KS Sudarshan as Sangh chin March this year. It also came after Bhagwat met a number of BJP leaders who sought his help following the Lok Sabha debacle, accentuated by Jaswant Singh’s expulsion. “He (Mohan Bhagwat) enquired about his health...discussed the political situation in the country,” Vajpayee’s secretary NC Jhingta said.