(Amitabh Bachchan's close friendship with Rajiv Gandhi is known to all. They were childhood friends who spent their vacations together. Yet, the friendship broke and the Bachchans drifted away from the Nehru Dynasty. What went wrong? Why did fast friends fall apart? This is the second of a three-part series.)   The slow disintegration of the relationship between Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka, and the Hindi film industry’s unofficial first couple was not sudden. According to insiders a clash of egos and one upmanship, especially between Sonia Gandhi and Jaya Bachchan, was a major factor responsible for the breakdown.   Both women took their roles as ‘bahus' in their respective ‘dynasties’ rather seriously. The Bachchan-Gandhi friendship was cemented as an emotional bond, but the Bachchans were also the recipients of the Nehru-Gandhi family’s patronage which, in turn, required a certain degree of deference that Jaya often found galling.   Amitabh’s  and Jaya’s opinion of Sonia’s political future in the mid-1990s was also fuelled by the many Maharashtra politicians who they had befriended over the years, like Balasaheb Thackeray. All of them had convinced the Bachchans that the Gandhis were a spent force.   The Gandhis back in power in 2004 would mean that their good friends, the Bachchans, would not be far behind, but this time the Gandhis made no pretence to hide their ire. The canker in the relationship, previously only known to a select few, now came out into the open. The media went into feverished speculation as to what had gone wrong with Dosti No 1.   Amitabh and Jaya subsequently fell out with Amar Singh. Reasons espoused by Amar -- that they did not stand by him in the nuclear deal controversy and cash-for-vote controversy. The real reason was perhaps different.   It is believed that Amitabh was terrified that by extension Amar was dragging him into the Rs 500 crore Uttar Pradesh Development Council scam when Shiv Kant Tripathi forced an investigation against them, which was later dropped by the Akhilesh Yadav Government. Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh were invited to Amitabh Bachchan's 70th birthday party of Bachchan in 2012; Amar was kept out of the guest list. Amar, however, bounced back to the Samajwadi Party in 2016 but his clout was drastically diminished.   Political lore has it that Amar Singh's break-up with the Bachchans was over a Rajya Sabha seat for Jaya Bachchan. But Amar Singh says the breaking point came over a dinner when Amitabh accused him of manipulating the situation to make the Bachchan family resign from the board of a controversial business house.   Amar Singh recalled the days when Amitabh and Aishwarya, after her engagement with Abhishek, stayed in this very bungalow and how he toned down the lavish spread of his birthday parties on the request of the superstar. "I used to give big parties on my birthdays, but Mr Bachchan said he was uncomfortable, so he said, 'I will come to the party and I will decide the guest list.' I toned down the parties for him as I treated him as an elder brother. It was like his wish was my command," Amar Singh recounts, adding that the actor had last attended his party in 2008. "Mr Bachchan, according to me, is contrary to Baghban (gardener), the role he played on screen. Off screen, he is Bagh-ujar (uprooting a garden), at least emotionally.”   Amar Singh said his experience with the Bachchans had made him realise why Congress president Sonia Gandhi refuses to accept anything from anyone on her birthdays. He told Ananya Sengupta of The Telegraph, "I used to be amazed as to why she did that. But after these experiences in my life, I have realised that she does the right thing. She knows that all these bouquets and flowers and gifts are temporary facets in life. They are happening because she is somebody in life, and the moment she ceases to be somebody, it will stop."   Memories of a distant and desirable past seemed to flood into many minds in April 2015 too when a Gandhi came to a Bachchan wedding after a whole generation. As over a thousand guests at a marriage reception at a Delhi farmhouse filed past newlywed actor Kunal Kapoor and bride Naina, daughter of Ajitabh Bachchan, all eyes appeared to be fixed on Priyanka Gandhi and Robert Vadra.   Amitabh, Jaya, Abhishek, Aishwarya and the rest of the Bachchans were there too, as were friends from their Allahabad days, the Suri family from Punjab, Delhi Page 3 regulars and politicians.  But it was Priyanka who was the cynosure of all eyes as she and Robert hugged Ajitabh and Naina.   To most old-timers, the occasion seemed redolent with the spirit of the two late matriarchs who had cemented the bond between the two families before it weakened some three decades ago. Many noticed Priyanka’s sari -- it was the purple one her grandmother had worn to a White House state banquet hosted by President Lyndon B Johnson and his wife during Indira Gandhi's 1966 US visit. The only accessories Priyanka wore were pearl earrings and her grandmother’s trademark men’s watch, which Indira had inherited from Jawaharlal Nehru and passed on to her granddaughter..   Three areas had been marked out at the reception venue, including a VIP area where Jaya and Amitabh were ensconced with friends such as Anupam and Kirron Kher. This seemed to limit the interactions between Amitabh’s side of the family and the Vadras, though they exchanged polite smiles when they came face to face.   Priyanka, who posed for pictures with several of the guests, left early with her husband, while the younger Bachchans and their friends -- Abhishek, Aishwarya, Shweta, Hrithik Roshan and Kunal -- hit the dance floor.   Hours later, Amitabh’s blog spoke cryptically of old memories without naming any names. “Nothing moves the mind greater than the memories of those that were a part of your life in constancy some 'millions of years ago'... tonight as I met with them, it was a time capsule that had suddenly exploded before your eyes... each and every little detail of those days and years and situations and banter and fun... all came back like it had never gone away at all.... consumed by this invasion on my senses and surrounded by well-wishers who mob for that one handshake, picture or an autograph... it suddenly makes one alone and pensive... it is a wedding atmosphere, there are thousands of guests and rituals and bonhomie being conducted, yet somewhere in all the 'rush of life' there pounds a heart that does not wish to reconcile with the images that unfold before... I come away... deftly... And remain in those thoughts... Till..."   Could it be that Amitabh, notwithstanding his new-found relationship with Narendra Modi and many others in the present Indian political establishment, actually misses the Nehru Gandhis and is perhaps wistful of his brother’s uncomplicated journey of friendship with them? One can only speculate.   Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.