Autonomy to Spend

In a similar display of independence, DD recently bought six air-conditioned Maruti Esteem cars for its senior staff, ignoring the resolution of the 46th meeting of Prasar Bharati that in view of the economic crunch no new vehicles would be purchased by the corporation.

Double Vision

During President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s interactive session with MPs from different states, he uses the help of visuals to highlight his message that our parliamentarians must push for more developmental activity in their area. In one of the visuals, Kalam displays his vision of what an Indian newspaper should look like in 2020.

The first lead story headline screams, ‘‘PM leaves for G-9’’, implying that by then the group of economically advanced countries would have expanded to include India. Other news reports in the imaginary broadsheet highlight India’s progress in spheres such as bio-diversity and healthcare at the village level. But the President’s subtle depiction of his vision for 2020 was lost on a number of MPs who, when shown the newspaper, simply remarked that there seemed to be a misprint since the dateline was April 8, 2020 and not April 8, 2003.

Last week it was the turn of UP and Uttaranchal MPs to attend the President’s breakfast meet. But of the 100-odd Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs from the two states, barely 40 showed up, although Parliament was in session. Half the Central ministers from UP were missing and none of the BSP MPs came. Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh stayed for breakfast but left before Kalam could take him through his vision for 2020.

George Nit-picking

Earlier, Defence Minister George Fernandes had worked hard to persuade Mamata Banerjee not to insist on getting back her old Railways portfolio as a pre-condition for joining the Vajpayee Cabinet. Now, Fernandes has reversed his stand and is demanding that Nitish Kumar be transferred out of the Railway Ministry so that Mamata can take over. Fernandes is anxious that his colleague in the Samata Party be taken down a peg or two.

Relations between the two have soured badly, with Nitish trying to push out Fernandes’s men from all key positions in the party. Nitish makes clear that he controls the majority of party MPs and that Fernandes has no chance of winning again from his Kurmi-dominated Muzzafarpur constituency without his blessing. While the Vajpayee Government generally backs Fernandes to the hilt, in this case it might not want to rock the boat by provoking Nitish too much.

Genuine Non-Alignment

Although the majority of Congress members have a Nehruvian Left-of-Centre tilt on foreign policy, party president Sonia Gandhi, probably advised by her foreign affairs think-tank of Natwar Singh, Mani Dixit and M.K. Rasgotra, refused to take an anti-US position on the Iraq war.

Last week, while sitting in Parliament and surrounded by MPs, Gandhi inquired of a journalist when he thought the war would end. Party members like Margaret Alva, Renuka Chaudhary and Surinder Singhla used the opening to comment adversely on the bias of channels like BBC and CNN and remark that assessments on the end of the conflict could not be based on American and British media reports. Gandhi steadfastly declined to be drawn into expressing a view despite the best efforts of those around her.

And when someone enquired whether the Hindi phrase ‘‘ninda’’ used to describe the American action in Iraq in the joint Parliamentary statement should be taken to mean condemn, criticise or deplore in English, Gandhi was non-committal, remarking it was up to the Americans to translate.

Earlier, Congressmen were unhappy because Sonia did not grant an appointment to the former Iraqi ambassador for some six months and when she finally consented to receive him, she kept the meeting very brief. Even the RSS chief, K.S. Sudershan, had a longer interaction with the envoy.

Test of Greed

The Rotary Club, Mumbai, invited a former test-level cricketer to the city to conduct a two-day coaching session for deprived children. The veteran sportsman assured that he would not charge for his services but that the club should simply compensate him for his basic costs. But when the club received the cricketer’s bill they were in a state of shock. He charged Rs 30,000 a day, which was his normal rate of earning he claimed.

In addition, he billed the club his airfare from Delhi to Mumbai as well as the taxi fare from his hometown in Punjab to Delhi which was a reported Rs 19,000. Some concession this!