After helping the Congress in the passage of Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Ms Sushma Swaraj, is set to be the one for friendly and cooperative ties with the Congress. The other day, she had joined the Congress’ top brass in paying homage to the late Congress chief and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 19th death anniversary at Vir Bhumi in New Delhi.
Ms Swaraj, once a firebrand leader of the BJP, appears to be a changed person after becoming the Opposition leader. But her strategy to be friendly with the principle political adversary will certainly create problems for her counterpart in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Arun Jaitley.
Now, the question is will he toe Ms Swaraj’s line on the floor or will the BJP have different strategies for the two Houses of Parliament with regard to the Congress?
The BJP parliamentary party will find it difficult to take on the Congress when the Opposition leader is interested in building personal bridges with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Her line may not go down well in the party even as a strategy, with leaders like Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and Mr Yashwant Sinha, following their own hard line against the Congress.
It is not known whether Ms Swaraj has informed BJP heavyweight L.K. Advani about joining the Congress leaders in paying homage to Rajiv Gandhi. This is because neither Mr Advani nor former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee have attended such functions. On Friday, Ms Swaraj had walked an extra mile towards the ruling Congress to the delight of Mrs Gandhi.
The Opposition leader had almost faced rebellion within the parliamentary party when she tried to help the Congress in the Lok Sabha on the Women’s Reservation Bill. OBC leaders within the BJP had strongly opposed it and she had to request Mr Advani to call a meeting of the party MPs instead of calling such a meeting herself to put the picture in the right perspective.