L K Advani was often moody..... difficult to gauge his mind.
In 2001, at Gangtok, he was visibly upset as I asked him about a possible CBI probe into Sikkim government's functioning as was demanded by former Chief Minister Nar Bahadur Bhandari of Sikkim Sangam Parishad.
Of course, it was a fact, I was accompanying him with other journalists from Delhi and quite a few -- senior ones.
The CBI probe was demanded against Pawan Kumar Chamling of the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF). Actually, Chamling and his wife were our hosts.
Technically, I should have avoided asking that question. Another instance, I saw him almost red-faced cutting short his media briefing was at the Teen Bigha border point in West Bengal. One local journalist from Siliguri carried BBC tag. I thought he was working with a news agency. !!
Nevertheless, Advani got furious the moment he was asked to comment on a Left leader's remarks against him (Advani). The media briefing was over. At lunch, he simply said -- "I never drag things so personal about anyone. Why should someone come here (he meant the Left leader) and comment on us personally".
The fact of the matter is prior to coming to power, the BJP had opposed Teen Bigha pact with Bangladesh. But after coming to power, the NDA government's stance was that as an international agreement was already announced by the Congress government, the Vajpayee government will respect that.
True, diplomacy runs like that barring a very few exceptions.
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