Andhra Pradesh Congress chief D Srinivas who stayed at Andhra Bhavan in Delhi earlier this month was infuriated when he was presented with a bill of Rs 2,500. As an MLA, Srinivas is accustomed to being charged at the nominal rate of Rs 2 per day as room rent. But while he was in Delhi, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu dissolved the state Assembly and Srinivas lost his status as a legislator. The staff at the Andhra Bhavan had no alternative but to charge him at the regular rate of Rs 750 a room. Srinivas flatly refused to pay his bill and threatened the lady at the counter with dire consequences, fuming that the Bhavan personnel did not seem to realise that they were dealing with the future chief minister of the state. The authorities have, however, refused to brush under the carpet the unpaid bill. A letter has been sent to the personnel department demanding that the outstanding amount be deducted from the ex-MLA’s pension. A copy of this letter has also been forwarded to the Andhra Governor. All in the family The chairmanship of the Parliamentary Standing Committee attached to the Petroleum Ministry is a prestigious post usually reserved for only very seasoned and senior MPs. After he resigned from Parliament to be sworn in as Chief Minister of Uttar pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav had per force to surrender the chairmanship. Now Mulayam insists that the next chairman should also be from his Samajwadi Party and wants his brother Ram Gopal Yadav, who has yet to make a mark as a parliamentarian, installed in his place. Advani’s favourite soap Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani is known to be a cinema buff, but is he a fan of TV soaps as well? Advani confessed to the media during a flight from Arunachal Pradesh to Delhi that he had little time to watch television entertainment programmes. All the same when he is in Delhi, there is one soap he tries not to miss and that is the general favourite Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. Perhaps that explains why one of the main stars of the serial, Smriti Malhotra Irani, received such an affectionate welcome into the BJP last week. Laloo ka jawab nahin The diplomatic buzz is that the Pakistan government sent its Information and Broadcasting Minister Sheikh Rashid to India hoping that the outspoken minister would outshine Laloo Yadav’s stunning display of PR in Pakistan. The Pakistani imitation turned out to be a far cry from the original. Laloo’s earthy charm and home spun humour won him friends everywhere he went. Rashid’s buffoonery in India, however, only succeeded in irritating and alienating Indians. Rashid first gushed over Prime Minister Vajpayee and then turned peevish and impolite simply because Vajpayee refused to back his story that he had exchanged pleasantries with him. By the end of his trip, Rashid had even started snapping at the Indian press. The Pakistani High Commission in Delhi did not help matters by arranging a dinner for Rashid at the Oberoi hotel at the same time as the Indian I&B Secretary was hosting a party for the SAARC delegates and media. Many of the chairs were empty at the Pakistani do. The chief guest arrived 45 minutes late and the only politician of note who showed up was Congress leader Renuka Chaudhary. The iftar party at the Pak High Commission, which was also meant to showcase Rashid, was another damp squib since the guests from the Hurriyat including Geelani could not fly down from Kashmir because of inclement weather. Forever young The best testimonial for beautician and fitness instructor Rama Bans who celebrates her 80th birthday next week is herself. The slim and lithe Rama manages to put in an hour-and-a-half worth of exercise daily and those who still flock to her for advice on diet include some of the big shot Mumbai industrialists such as Kumaramangalam Birla, Harsh Goenka, Swati Piramal and Saryu Doshi. Not many are aware that back in the Sixties when Rama was based in Delhi she was the favourite beautician of the politicians. Word of her skills spread after she cured the daughter of the then US ambassador to India Chester Bowles of her pimples. Indira Gandhi, Jagjivan Ram, Nandini Satpathy, Sheikh Abdullah and his wife and numerous blue-blooded maharajahs and maharanis used to consult her. After she shifted to Mumbai, a sizable section of her clientele was drawn from Bollywood. Rekha, Dimple, Smita Patil, Saira Banu, Rishi Kapur and Vinod Mehra were regulars at her evening exercise and aerobics classes. Another facet of this pioneer in the beauty business is that she played Pygmalion to many a raw beauty hoping to get a break. Sushmita Sen, Limrana D’ Souza and Yukta Mookhey were groomed by Rama before they went on to capture international beauty queen titles. Rama modestly attributes her success over half-a-century to luck, but her genuine interest and concern about each and every client is what makes her special.
