Banquet unfit for PM?

Old is gold

CBI Chief Vijay Shankar retires on July 1 this year when he turns 60 and the process of selecting his successor has begun with a panel of names being prepared for the Cabinet Committee on Appointments (CCA). But the Government’s eventual game plan is to secure an extension for Shankar with the approval of the CVC. This can only be done with an amendment of the existing rules since Shankar is already on extension since December last year. There is a similar proposal to grant an extension to the Reserve Bank of India Governor Y V Reddy who turns 65 shortly.

Seat adjustments

In the 2004 general elections, there was a concerted effort to deny Lok Sabha tickets to the BJP’s Generation Next — Pramod Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. The ostensible reason was that their services were required for the party’s overall campaign. But the aging next generation is finally being given a chance to make its mark in the House of the People. Meanwhile, Varun Gandhi, who is under 30, will probably be contesting from Pilibhit, a constituency which his mother has won six times. While the Amethi-Rai Bareilly belt has stuck loyally with the Nehru-Gandhi family for historical reasons, Maneka has established her own sphere of influence in UP’s Terrai. She will be contesting from Pilibhit’s neighbouring constituency Aonla, where she had helped a JD(U) candidate win the last time.

BJP President Rajnath Singh plans to stand from Ghaziabad, a largely urban seat in western UP. To secure his own seat, the BJP president is anxious for a tie-up with the RLD and is willing to concede to all of Ajit Singh’s demands. Since the constituency has a sizable number of Gurjjar voters, Singh even pressed for the removal of Vasundara Raje as Rajasthan Chief Minister because of her battle with the Gurjjars over reservations.

Rankle over ranks

The Congress heavyweights of Madhya Pradesh have made it clear that they have no intention of taking orders from the state PCC chief Suresh Pachauri, whom they consider far too junior. When Pachauri called a meeting of the PCC in Delhi last week to discuss preparations for the forthcoming state Assembly elections, he had per force to hold the meeting at Kamal Nath’s house. In fact, Nath, who many believe may be projected as the party’s chief ministerial candidate, was the only stalwart present. Arjun Singh, Digvijay Singh and Satyavrath Chaturvedi did not show up as they were out of town.

Delayed monsoon

By June itself the monsoon has covered almost the entire country. But Parliament’s monsoon session, which is traditionally convened in mid-July, has been postponed to August 11 this year. The reason for the delay is not the weather, the Government in crisis or the SAARC conference in Sri Lanka. It is because the Commonwealth Parliament Association session, where a new chairperson will be elected, is to be held in Kuala Lumpur in the first week of August. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who helped get West Bengal Speaker Hashim Haleem elected chairperson of the association three years back, hopes that India will once again play an influential role in the election.