L.K. Advani celebrated his 80th birthday twice — once according to the English calendar, and the second time according to the Hindu samvat. Anup Jalota sang bhajans at the BJP leader’s Prithviraj Road residence on the latter occasion. Advani saw contemporary relevance in one of the couplets. “Aisi bewafai kar ki tumhare baad koi aur bewafa na rahe (Betray me in a way that makes all other betrayals insignificant).”“We are singing this for Deve Gowda,” Advani remarked to a journalist. The BJP leader, incidentally, is believed to have warned his party men earlier when they had rosy dreams of leading the state government in Karnataka, to be wary of Gowda.Modi’s sole ally The Congress has formed an umbrella alliance for an anti-Modi front extending from the NCP to BJP rebels. Still Modi has one powerful ally on his side. Mayawati plans to put up BSP candidates in all 182-assembly constituencies in Gujarat. After all, the BSP candidates will cut into the Congress’s vote-share of Scheduled Castes and Muslims. In the 2002 elections Mayawati fielded a few candidates in the state, but she also took part in a joint rally in Ahmedabad along with Modi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Unsurprisingly, there is no BJP Muslim candidate in the fray. Even the Congress plans to field only six Muslim candidates, on the presumption that they cannot win seats in a communally divided society.Siding with God The 3-D representation of Marina beach in the Tamil Nadu pavilion at the trade fair in Delhi was a big draw. There were over 500 entries daily in the state’s visitor’s book. Nearly half the remarks were from north Indians protesting against Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s negation of Ram. Karunanidhi may stick faithfully to the atheistic beliefs of DMK founder Periyar, but many in the party are God-fearing and do not try to hide their faith. Radhey Selvey, who was made MoS of home a few months back, flaunts a vibhuti mark on her forehead to indicate she is a Shaivite. Recently the Tamil Nadu media reported that one of Karunanidhi’s state ministers walked on fire to rid himself of a stomach ailment. Karunanidhi is yet to eject him from the government.Gloves-on approach Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss believes in making sure that what he preaches is put into practice. As part of his anti-smoking campaign, he has taken pains to ensure that the ‘No Smoking’ rule in Parliament is strictly adhered to. Diehard smokers have to confine themselves to a small smoking room in the corner. Ramadoss has now turned his attention to the hygiene standards of the food served to MPs in Parliament. He has even written to the railways, which is in charge of catering in Parliament House, instructing that waiters should wear gloves while serving. Of late, several waiters have been seen carrying gloves in Parliament’s Central Hall. But hardly any of them actually wear them; they are mostly stuffed in their pockets.Left on his own Prahlad K. Basu, the recently removed chairman of the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises, gave the media such an exaggerated notion of the importance of his post, that his successor Nitish Sen Gupta may feel rather let down. Actually the chairperson’s is a part-time job, and the only work is to preside over board meetings. There is no salary; there are no perks. Basu had claimed that his job was the equivalent of a minister of state and mentioned it proudly in letters he faxed to numerous universities across the world, soliciting lecture assignments. The board secretariat, however, did not receive any official intimation about the positioning of the chairperson in the government hierarchy. Nor was there any notification in the gazette to this effect.The octogenarian chairperson kept the post for three years despite his idiosyncrasies and the fact that he fought with three successive board secretaries, because the government did not want to annoy the Left. Last week, Sitaram Yechury disowned Basu, telling newspersons that the Left had nothing to do with his appointment. In which case, whose nominee was he?
