The Hindu : A magnificent obsession?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 04, 2003

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A magnificent obsession?

By Harish Khare

New Delhi March. 3. The veteran parliamentarian that he is, the Prime Minister seems to be having a magnificent obsession when it comes to joining issue with the Opposition. Invariably, he seems keen on taking on Sonia Gandhi, a first-term member of the Lok Sabha.

This obsession was very much evident again today when Mr. Vajpayee replied to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President's address in the Lok Sabha. He began by acknowledging Ms. Gandhi's institutional role as the Leader of the Opposition and lauded her concern about the "homeless". But then he cited for refutation her letter on the Rajasthan drought; took offence to Ms. Gandhi's habit of describing his Government as the "BJP-led Government"; and chided her for suggesting that the Government was using "terrorism" to polarise society.

So personal did Mr. Vajpayee appear in his reply that he ended up extracting from Ms. Gandhi her first-ever, impromptu parliamentary intervention. Mr. Vajpayee spoke as if he was personally stung because Ms. Gandhi had questioned his Government's claim of creating one crore jobs a year. This personalised attention prompted Ms. Gandhi to join issue, as much to the treasury benches' consternation as to the pleasant surprise of the Congress members. Did the Prime Minister trigger something in the Leader of the Opposition who, in her short parliamentary career, has been described as being text-bound?

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