Janata roots

It was a walk down the memory lane for both Arun Jaitley and Suresh Prabhu as they took charge of their new ministerial portfolios on Monday. Both Jaitley and Prabhu stepped into shoes of men they have admired. Jaitley now has the additional charge as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting. Lal Krishna Advani, one-time mentor of Jaitley, headed the ministry during the 1977 Janata Party government. Prabhu, the new railways minister, heads a ministry once held by a man he admired immensely - Madhu Dandavate. Incidentally, Prabhu had defeated Dandavate in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections from Maharashtra's Rajapur constituency. Dandavate was the railways minister in the 1977 Janata government.