After govt hospitality, BJP claims back moral high ground

BJP President Rajnath Singh's speech to the party's national executive laid a lot of emphasis on claiming the moral high ground and making the party a tool for returning ethics and morality to politics.

This was ironic since the whole morning, the party was replying to questions on how nearly 120 of its leaders were enjoying hospitality of the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, which had designated them as state guests.

Even the poster boy of Hindutva, Narendra Modi, was enjoying hospitality at the gracious Taj Residency Hotel.

The matter was quickly raised by the Congress. "Both parties stand to gain by communal politics, they are actually twin forces," state Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said.

The executive proceeded as schedule but there were whispers about large hoardings of Rajnath Singh and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee carrying stamp-sized photos of former deputy prime minister LK Advani all over the city.

On top of all this came senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi's reply to a question that there were "not just two, but many prime ministerial candidates in the party."

With such a start to the National Executive, Rajnath Singh will do well to learn to duck.