Kolkata Confidential

Man among men
When Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister,it was said the only man in her cabinet was Indira herself. Now the same can be said about Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and her team. So much so that the Union ministers of Trinamool do not have the freedom to even select their private secretaries or additional private secretaries. One of these ministers said: “I received 30 CVs for the post of APS and I sent all of them to Mamata because it will be her who will select my APS. I don’t have any other option.”

Hands tied
These are really bad times for the CPM and the leadership is admitting it in private. The other day party state secretary Biman Bose,who always puts up a brave face in public,appeared grim before a delegation of PTTI students. “Please do not put much pressure on us because we are going through an extremely bad phase. We won’t be able to do much for you now.”

Season change
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence in Kalighat was abuzz with phone calls after she presented the railway budget and many of them were reportedly from the Writers’ Buildings. Several officers called her to congratulate that how great the budget was. Insiders say the officers,considered loyal to CPM,did not want to waste the chance of congratulating the Trinamool chief,who has a fair chance of getting into the Writers’ Buildings in 2011. “Many are trying to get close to her,sensing that the CPM government may go in 2011 Assembly elections,“ said a Trinamool leader. Most of the calls were handled by the party’s middle-level leaders though.

New menu
Is Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti very fond of cholar daal? At an informal press meet on Sunday at his chamber in the Writers’ Buildings during discussions on the price rise,the chief secretary said people prefer moosoor and moong daal,which sell for Rs 70 to 75 per kg to cholar daal that sells for Rs 46 a kg. Chakrabarti’s advice was quite clear — eat cholar daal more than moosoor or moong daal. This reminds the infamous statement of late Chief Minister Prafulla Chandra Sen,who during the food crisis of 1966-67 advised people to eat kacha kela instead of rice,which sold for a premium at that time.

Mellowed down
Not often do you see an English cricket official and Jagmohan Dalmiya singing the same tune. Last week,the Maidan was abuzz with a debate on the proposed four-day Tests,an idea put forwarded by ICC president David Morgan. The hardliners in the CAB cried bloody murder. They thought they had the backing of their president but Dalmiya let them down. The former ICC chief voted in favour of Morgan,an aristocrat from Glamorgan. Now,there used to be a time when Dalmiya stood against anything that was English. As the BCCI president,he opposed the idea to recognise Twenty20 cricket. No prize in guessing that the idea emanated from the English cricket administrators. So,why this U-turn? The Maidan grapevine has it that Dalmiya has stopped playing to the gallery.