‘When anybody praises Modi, I am very happy’

“This is what our image is now internationally. Nobody trusts our security because we don’t do it ourselves” is Arun Jaitley’s opening line in greeting as he braces for a press conference at Bandra’s Rang Sharda. Australia’s withdrawal from the Davis Cup tie against India in Chennai has given him a convenient handle to whiplash the UPA government again.

Seated next to him are BJP’s candidate from the North-West Mahesh Jethmalani and a fresh convert from Bollywood, Kirron Kher, who has officially thrown in her lot with the party on this balmy Sunday. Jaitley is bristling to take guard, as it were, in the restless manner of Viru Sehwag, the dashing opener from Delhi.

The official press conference is delayed by a few minutes in which he agrees to a rapid fire interview to DNA,  in which he appear aggressive and defensive by turns. Excerpts:

By endorsing Arun Shourie’s statement of Narendra Modi for prime minister, you have set the cat amongst the pigeons in your party?
It’s not the issue that has been made out. The statements have been taken out of context. We are focusing on the 2009 election where Advani is the PM candidate.

But your support for Modi is no secret…
When anybody praises Modi, I am very happy.

He could also be a handicap in a pan-India scenario because of his record…
Modi is a major force because of his excellent administration in Gujarat. People have faith in him…

Not all people…
That is not an issue now.

Is Advani’s age an issue, and therefore the clamour for a younger leader?
Advaniji’s level of fitness and health is a source of envy for me.

Was young Varun Gandhi more embarrassment than strategy?
An episode like that happens during elections. Some matters take a new direction, but then things come back to normal.

Reports of dissent within the higher echelons of the party persist, like Advani versus Rajnath Singh or Sushma Swaraj versus…
Differences between top leaders in a structured party are not unusual.

It also seems that the BJP does not have any major plank to woo voters, which is why the shift from terrorism to the belated attack on Manmohan Singh as a weak PM.
It is not that there are no issues. We have focussed on governance, economy and terror.

Is Arun Jaitley content being a backroom boy?
I have been deeply immersed in the campaign. The electoral journey has been long and rewarding. Politics is not always about being in the front.

By now he is signalled to the dais. The official press conference is brief. Jaitley’s demeanour is more prosecution lawyer, less political analyst. The UPA’s home ministry is roundly trashed for Australia’s withdrawal from the Davis cup tie, and the administrative boo-boos over the Ajmal Kasab trial.

When the queries move to his (and Shourie’s) statements about Modi, Jaitley gets into aggressive reluctance to discuss the matter. A brief introduction of Ms Kher is a lull in the ‘prosecution’s’ case, as it were, which ends with his prognostications on how the NDA is poised to do well in the elections, and the UPA is already struggling after the first two rounds.

The interrogation shifts to Maharashtra and Mumbai. “We hope to do better here too,” says Jaitley, which is a signal for Jethmalani into believing that his turn to take strike has finally come. But even before the North-West candidate can even rouse himself in his chair, Jaitley has declared the innings closed.