Delhi Confidential: Communication Gap

CPM MP from Kerala M B Rajesh took everybody by surprise by asking a supplementary to a starred question in chaste Hindi.

The parliamentary affairs committee of the Congress, set up to formulate the party’s Parliament strategy and ensure coordination between two Houses, met Friday but Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi could not attend. While Rahul was away in Amethi, Sonia could not attend because of some mis-communication. Sonia had apparently been informed that the meeting was at 9.30 am. But before she left her 10, Janpath residence for Parliament, it became clear that the meeting was at 10 am and hence none of the MPs had reached Parliament. Sonia, who had a meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee, then skipped the parliamentary affairs committee’s meeting.

MINISTER’S PICK

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has finally got a new private secretary. Bihar cadre IAS officer Saravana Kumar, posted as District Collector, Patna, will now be his PS replacing Uday Singh Kumawat who has to be shifted out as per directions of the Prime Minister’s Office disqualifying those who had served on UPA ministers’ staff. Kumawat had been PS to Tariq Anwar during the UPA regime. Kumar who hails from Tamil Nadu is of 2000 batch.

LIP SERVICE

CPM MP from Kerala M B Rajesh took everybody by surprise by asking a supplementary to a starred question in chaste Hindi. While some members from Andhra and Karnataka at times do speak Hindi, those from Tamil Nadu and Kerala tend to prefer English. It is difficult to figure out the reason for Rajesh’s change of track. Is it the rise of the BJP and Narendra Modi? Or, to project a national profile of the CPM when its electoral fortunes are on a downslide?

TRIAL TRVAIL

Conducted with much fanfare, the recent trial run of the New Delhi-Agra Shatabdi (billed as the country’s fastest train) at a maximum speed of 160 kmph led to a situation where 30 Mail Express/Passenger and 28 good trains got delayed. This happened because when the Shatabdi was being put under the trial run, one of the conditions in the rules stated that no train shall be permitted to run on the adjoining track. Also, the Railways had to deploy as many as 156 RPF personnel during the trial during which the train clocked 102 minutes from New Delhi to Agra and 105 minutes on the return journey—missing the 90 minute target.

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