The split in the 24-party Hurriyat Conference was an event waiting to happen ever since pro-Pakistan Syed Ali Shah Geelani of the Jamaat-e-Islami was released from jail in February. He has been chaffing at his marginalisation within the Hurriyat, the Jamaat and even the public. He had to do something dramatic. What better way than to break the Hurriyat? Thirteen members in the general council "elected" a new chief. Says former Hurriyat chief Abdul Ghani Bhat: "The council has no right to remove the chairman." Counters Geelani: "The ineffective executive cannot quote the charter."

OUTVOTED: (From left) Omer Farooq, Ansari, Bhat

The split comes at an inopportune time. Delhi had set up back channel contacts with Hurriyat leaders after moderates isolated Geelani and Yaseen Malik of the JKLF and elected a Shia, Maulvi Abbasi Ansari, in July. The split has spoiled such plans. Even the moderates can no longer afford to be seen cutting a deal with Delhi.

It is uneasy times not just for the Hurriyat. The PDP-Congress tie-up is on slippery grounds. PCC chief Ghulam Nabi Azad held two meetings with the National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah in London recently. Congress President Sonia Gandhi has to only choose her moment to strike. She is unhappy with the level of violence. So is the Centre. In fact, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani was particularly displeased with the Greenways hotel terrorist hold-out operation when the Inter-State Council meeting was under way. Though the PDP cannot be blamed, Delhi feels, its soft approach emboldens terrorist strikes.

-Lakshmi Iyer

REEL-LIFE VILLAIN: Sadhu Yadav

It is tough to leave a place that has been your home for more years than you care to remember. At least that seems to be the case for Congress veterans Vasant Sathe and N.K.P. Salve. They returned to the Congress embrace with much less fanfare than that with which they left the party barely two weeks ago to champion the cause of Vidarbha. The homecoming may have been a low-key affair but there is a visible sense of relief at 24 Akbar Road at the duo's reversal. The two septuagenarian leaders do not have much of a mass base in Vidarbha, but they could certainly have spoiled its winning electoral equation in the Congress' stronghold-about three dozen of the party's 74 MLAs come from Vidarbha.

In fact, the return of the prodigals was the result of hectic behind-the-scene efforts by the Congress leadership. Right from 10 Janpath to the local party worker everybody did their bit. Congress President Sonia Gandhi got Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukherjee to launch Operation Persuasion and, then aicc General Secretary Vayalar Ravi and Maharashtra PCC President Ranjit Deshmukh joined in. Ravi even offered to set up a regional Congress committee but linked it to one for Telengana. The old men yielded only when young MLAs from the area marched to their homes and asked them not to "spoil our future". The pressure worked and it's all one happy family-till another time.

Q 1. PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti has said that there is no need for reservation for Kashmiri Pandits as...

a. it would upset the militants.
b. the Sayeed Government is planning a relief package for them.
c. they were well off.

Q 2. Udit Raj's Indian Justice Party has demanded reservation in the police force for...

a. Buddhists.
b. BSP workers.
c. Muslims.

Q 3. Congress MLA B.L. Sharma has announced that Brahmin MLAs of Rajasthan will discontinue relations with the Congress if...

a. the party did not support the bill banning cow slaughter.
b. Ashok Gehlot's successor is not a Brahmin.
c. the Congress does not support the bill on a quota for Brahmins in Parliament.

Q 4. All Congress-ruled states have given separate minority status to...

a. Anand Margis.
b. Shias.
c. Jains.

Answers: 1(c), 2(c), 3(c), 4(c)