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Advani and Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee may be at opposite ends of the political spectrum but they’ve always shared a warm personal rapport.

And the years haven’t dimmed that although they haven’t met since the UPA government was formed with Left support three and a half years ago.

So when they caught up again at Advani’s residence last week, they slipped into the old comfort level quite easily. Bhattacharjee went with a motive, to lobby for BJP support to the Darjeeling Hill Council Bill.

But Advani greeted him like a long lost friend, with wife Kamla whipping up a lavish spread and daughter Pratibha sitting on attendance.

Their banter was casual and intimate. Bhattacharjee chided Advani gently for going to Nandigram but not dropping in to see him in Kolkata. An embarrassed Advani replied that it was a strategic decision.

He didn’t want to create problems for the CM at a time when he is already under fire from Left circles, he said.

So what, Bhattacharjee shot back and reminded Advani that their political differences never affected their friendship. The BJP leader heartily agreed.

Friendship was the leitmotif that evening and Bhattacharjee spent some 40 minutes with Advani and family, staying well beyond 9pm on a politically hot day with a Politburo meeting in session.

Unfortunately, friendship can’t quite conquer politics. Advani was warm and friendly all right. He also assured Bhattacharjee that the Bill had his principled support.

The problem, he said, was the home minister, Shivraj Patil, who bypassed parliamentary norms. Instead of sending the bill to the standing committee, as per the practice Patil himself introduced it when he was Lok Sabha Speaker in the early ‘90s, he tried to rush it through Parliament in one day, Advani complained.

There was so much bitterness in the BJP leader’s voice that Bhattacharjee realised he was pleading a lost cause. He promptly relayed the conversation to Patil the next morning, rapping him for his poor handling of the BJP.

The home minister took it up with Advani who ticked him off for taking the Opposition for granted. While Advani fumed and Bhattacharjee sulked, Patil was left holding the baby and wondering how he ended up looking so bad.

The Gujarat elections could decide the fate of more than one BJP chief minister. Narendra Modi’s future rests in the hands of the people of Gujarat.

But a recent closed-door meeting of the party’s top leadership decided to guillotine Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje and Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh if Modi loses. The reason: burgeoning dissidence in the party in both states.

Like in Gujarat, BJP rebels are threatening to upset the apple cart in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, which go to polls at the end of 2008. But if Modi wins, Raje and Singh may be given the green signal to cut the dissidents to size. Guess who’s praying as hard as Modi for a BJP victory in Gujarat!

TAILPIECE
The most vociferous demand for a Saturday sitting of Parliament last week came from CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta. He insisted that the Lok Sabha meet on the weekend to finish pending business.

But when Saturday dawned, he was conspicuous by his absence, a fact the Congress party’s most prominent Left-baiter Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi went out of his way to broadcast. Next time, Dasgupta better put his money where his mouth is.

Email: a_jerath@dnaindia.net