Three decades after Yash Chopra’s flick “Silsila” sizzled the Bollywood, a political ‘Silsila’ began in the Rajya Sabha on April 27 between Jaya (Bhaduri) Bachchan and Rekha Ganeshan.
Jaya has been allotted a seat in the row given to the Samajwadi Party in the Rajya Sabha. So far so good. But She realised that nominated members including Rekha will sit just behind her seat. A stunned Ms Bachchan is to request Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari to change her seat in the House. She leart to her horror that just behind her seat is the 12-seat row for nominated members and the newly nominated RS member Rekha would be sitting just behind her.
Jaya does not want to share the same RS camera screen with Rekha and TV channels will splash it 24X7. It is common knowledge that there is no love lost between Bollywood’s two leading ladies of yesteryears.
Sources said Ansari will be somewhat foxed by this unusual request as how to delink Rekha from the nominated members' seating arrangements.
It is nothing unusual for a MP to seek change of his or her seat in the House, but that normally happens for political reasons when the MP no longer wants to be associated with the political party with whose support he or she has become a member of parliament. In this case, Jaya continues to enjoy good relations with the SP leadership and clearly her reasons for seeking change of her seat in the house are personal.
It is understood that Rekha, whose illustrious father Gemini Ganeshan too had been a Rajya Sabha member, would be taking her latest political role with utmost seriousness. The cine diva wants to prove herself in her new role. It is expected that Rekha would be attending parliament more frequently than most film stars who have become MPs over the years.
