It was an inauspicious start to the year-long festivities to celebrate the BJP's 50 years, first as the Jan Sangh and then as the BJP. Prime Minister Vajpayee, one of the handful who founded the Jan Sangh, which grew from a humble party in 1951 to political centrestage by 1998, failed to show up at the flag-hoisting ceremony because of a ``communication gap''.

Arriving at the party national council at the Talkatora Stadium here two hours late, Vajpayee apologised for having missed the ``shubhaarambh''. ``I was under the impression that (LK) Advani was to provide the margdarshan and I was to make the concluding speech. Maybe I misunderstood, maybe there was a communication gap. Maybe this happened because once you are in power, the distance between the party and the government grows. And so I was not there for the flag-hoisting ceremony.''