Soon after Shinde assumed his new post came this comment by BJP leader LK Advani: ‘I believe the UPA-II is an illegitimate government.’ It managed to provoke an otherwise placid Sonia Gandhi into action. What this meant, however, was that Shinde was compelled to attack Advani on his party leader’s behalf. It was all played out live for the benefit of the nation.

Then came yesterday’s episode involving SP member Jaya Bachchan. The latter accused Shinde, rightly, of not responding to specific queries during a debate on the violence in Assam. Shinde reacted with this comment: ‘This is a serious matter. This is not the subject of a film.’ Naturally, Bachchan took serious objection to this, triggering an uproar in the House. Our Home Minister was forced to back down and placate Bachchan. In the process, the debate — a matter of national security — was abandoned.

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Balbir Punj of the BJP had an interesting thing to say about Sushilkumar Shinde. He likened him to a student who memorises his subject the night before, then repeats the same thing regardless of what the questions are.u00a0