Psst...Dirty Pictures?

The battle between Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee over the attempts by the BJP leader to table the Ramesh Chandra Committee Report in the Lok Sabha is likely to take an ugly turn with Mulayam threatening to expose the 'personal life' of Vajpayee 'in every corner of the country' if the campaign against him is not stopped immediately. The defence minister made this startling statement in Lucknow at the national convention of the Samajwadi Party a little after he was elected president of his outfit.

While Mulayam did not spell out exactly what aspects of Vajpayee's personal life he would reveal, he has reportedly said that in the next 10 days he would take on the role played by the late Raj Narain. The Janata Party maverick had alleged that the BJP leader was an "informer" of the British government and had worked against the Independence struggle. Narain had also hit the headlines by releasing to the press obscene 'pictures' of Jagjivan Ram's son. This is not the first time that Vajpayee's personal life has come under attack. In the '70s, Subramanian Swamy had made allegations about the BJP leader's private life. Much of the accusations stem from the fact that Vajpayee has never married. Quizzed during a TV show on why he had chosen to be a bachelor, he said he had simply missed the bus. "When I wanted to get married I was a nobody and no one wanted to marry me. Now that I've become somebody I am too old to get married." But did he have an affair? The BJP leader was quick to point out that "these are not the things to discuss on TV".

The other area, according to sources, where Vajpayee may come in for criticism from his detractors is his closeness to the controversial Hindujas. The BJP leader has been an open advocate of this UK-based business house. He had even written letters to former prime minister Narasimha Rao espousing their cause.