Tewari greets Javadekar

Soon after BJP president Rajnath Singh announced his team of office-bearers, there was a surprise call from none other than Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari to BJP Spokesman Prakash Javadekar. Manish Tewari told Prakash Javadekar that he was set to create a record of sorts by serving in the post for a decade now. Javadekar's response was that V N Gadgil had set the record of being AICC Spokesman for 12 years and that he would be completing 12 years in 2014. Interestingly, while V N Gadgil served for 12 years over several phases, Javadekar has done it at a stretch. What is more, both Gadgil and Javadekar are both Maharashtrian Brahmins and hail from Pune, which is considered to be the cultural capital of Maharashtra. That is where the comparison ends. Gadgil believed in the virtue of a party spokesman speaking the least, while Javadekar is most vocal and verbose. While Javadekar hails from the RSS stream, Gadgil believed in secularism to the core. Gadgil, a former Union Information & Broadcasting Minister, once introduced the Private Member's Bill on the Right to Reply, which kickstarted a storm in media circles. After that, Gadgil withdrew the Bill. Reason? He said the purpose was served, as it was meant to draw attention to his viewpoint and since that has been served, he had no objection in withdrawing the Bill.