Sushma-Sonia equation is at play with Modi’s assent

NEW DELHI: The military action that neutralised seven terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control also set the stage for a thaw in the frosty relations between the Narendra Modi regime and the top Congress leadership.

The government reached out and the principal Opposition rose to the occasion.

The NDA initiative was led by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. She turned up late at Thursday’s all-party meeting as she had taken time out for a call on Sonia Gandhi. The minister inquired about the Congress president’s health and she briefed her on the army operation.

Swaraj found it apt to call on Sonia as she was recuperating from an ailment and was unable to attend the government-convened all-party conference.

Sources said the minister began by inquiring about her health as they were face-to-face for the first time after she fell ill in August during a road show in Varanasi. She underwent a surgery later.

That the meeting had Modi’s consent became evident when Swaraj asked Sonia if she had any message for the PM. While the minister engaged directly with the Congress president, she deputed foreign secretary Jaishankar to update former Premier Manmohan Singh. The move was in line with the timehonoured tradition of taking on board the principal Opposition for a united national response.

Sonia reciprocated Swaraj’s gesture in equal measure. She received her at the doorsteps of her 10, Janpath, residence and walked her up to her car after the meeting.

The two leaders have had their share of political rivalries. Sonia defeated Swaraj in 1999 in Bellary. In 2004, the BJP leader famously threatened to shave her head and launch a Quit India-2 movement if Sonia became PM.

But in recent years they’ve had convivial relations. They are perceived as good friends whose conversations move beyond politics to family issues. In 2010, Swaraj become the first BJP heavyweight to join the Gandhis at a prayer meeting on Rajiv Gandhi’s death anniversary.

In April this year, Rahul Gandhi called on Swaraj while she was under treatment at AIIMS. In another display of social courtesy amid a divided polity, Sonia telephoned Arun Jaitley’s wife Sangeeta when the finance minister was hospitalised in 2014.

Later, she also spoke to Jaitley. Sonia wasn’t in the House when Parliament was attacked in 2001. On hearing of it, she promptly called then PM AB Vajpayee to inquire whether he was safe.

Despite their uneasy relations, Modi similarly responded to Sonia’s indisposition. He spoke to Sheila Dikshit who was with the Congress chief, offering to send a special plane to transport her to Delhi from Varanasi.