It's Congress chief ministers vs Vajpayee

The heroes of this election are the chief ministers of the four states ""Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Digvijay Singh (Madhya Pradesh), Ajit Jogi (Chhattisgarh) and Sheila Dikshit (Delhi "" who are fighting to ensure they, along with their parties, retain power.

Against them is the hero of the BJP, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is making an average of two election speeches a day, more if he can manage it, during his tours.

An analysis of the Prime Minister's assessment of the four chief ministers' performance ""even though they're from a rival parties""is interesting because it bears a marked resemblance to the annual confidential report that bureaucrats and CEOs have to file about the performance of their subordinates.

The way the Prime Minister has positioned Congress chief ministers, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the BJP chief ministerial aspirants, is interesting.

The Prime Minister thinks Ajit Jogi should get no promotions and should actually be sacked. Of all the Congress chief ministers, the strongest and most trenchant criticism has been reserved for Jogi. Obviously, this has to do with the BJP's suspicion that the Dilip Singh Judeo scam was concocted by Jogi.

In his speeches, where he has mentioned Jogi, the word "corruption" has followed in the next sentence. Although there is no mention of the BJP's chief ministerial candidate in Chhattisgarh""one reason why BJP supporters are confused about whom to vote for ""the indictment of Jogi, who has stood, according to the Prime Minister, between development and Chhattisgarh, is strong

The mildest criticism has been kept for Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. The Prime Minister has so far addressed three sets of meetings in Delhi.

In his speeches in Delhi, the Prime Minister has argued that it would be better for the people of Delhi if the same party were in government in the state and the Centre. The theme was: the Centre has cooperated with the state though the state has not always helped the Centre.

In one of his speeches, Vajpayee referred to the CNG standoff. In another he referred to the state of the roads and remarked that things would move much faster if the roads were better.

There was no mention of the state government's misman-agement of dengue or law and order, issues that would have gladdened the BJP's heart. There was left handed praise for ML Khurana: (I have known him for 50 years. He will develop Delhi if he's given a chance)

The criticism of the Ashok Gehlot government's performance has been equally strong, though the Prime Minister did not speak about corruption in the Rajasthan government in any of his speeches in Rajasthan, possibly conscious that criticism of Gehlot's popular personal image in the state""as a clean, hardworking administrator""might boomerang against the BJP.

In Bikaner and Ajmer, he spoke about international issues. In Jodhpur, he talked about the golden quadrilateral, the creation of infrastructure by the centre and how Rajasthan has lagged behind on the human development indices.

In one meeting he complimented Vasudhara Raje (we dream of a new India, she dreams of a new Rajasthan). But Raje was missing from the Jodhpur meeting.

In Madhya Pradesh, the Prime Minister is yet to conclude his election meetings. On November 19 and 20, he was at Indore and Alot. The talking points were lack of development in Madhya Pradesh but no personal criticism of Digvijay Singh.

In his report card, Dikshit gets 5 out of 10. Digvijay Singh and Ashok Gehlot get 4 each. And Ajit Jogi gets an F.