Blackwill’s wife clean bowled

Her favourite Indian players? Sachin and Saurav, naturally. Of course, both the PM and DPM diplomatically refrained from asking him which team she’s supporting.

A case of being camera shy?

What’s with film star ministers and Parliament questions? Shatrughan Sinha paid the price for shying away from Question Hour by losing the high profile health portfolio.

Now, it’s the turn of the recently appointed Minister of State for External Affairs, Vinod Khanna, to duck Parliament. The first time he was asked by his senior ministerial colleagues to field at least one of the questions relating to the MEA, he candidly admitted his inexperience and passed.

The next time, he mumbled something about being needed to campaign for a local election in Ropar (Punjab) and quickly left town. After he annoyed the PMO with a suggestion that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf follow in Vajpayee’s footsteps and ride a bus to New Delhi, Khanna has been keeping a low profile. He’s also being made to twiddle his thumbs by being given only the passports and NRI divisions of the Ministry to oversee.

Farooq’s talk plans grounded

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah must be cursing his luck. He’d begged a lift on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s plane to attend industrialist Nusli Wadia’s son’s wedding in Mumbai last week in the hope of catching the PM for a private natter.

In fact, he would have killed two birds with one stone because Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani was slated to be on the aircraft too. Unfortunately, Abdullah had not counted on two other passengers, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptullah and Law Minister Arun Jaitley. Both had booked themselves on the PM’s plane earlier in the day.

Abdullah had to make do with the usual pleasantries instead of the heart-to-heart chat he’d expected to have with the Big Two in the informal confines of the PM’s cabin.

With speculation mounting about a Cabinet reshuffle after Parliament goes into recess at the end of the week, the ex-CM is believed to be getting restless.

Vajpayee has dropped hints about accommodating allies in the next round of ministerial appointments but so far, he hasn’t given any indication who the favoured ones will be.

The Indian connection in Bundestag

Members of the newly formed Indo-German Parliamentary Forum found a surprising Indian connection in the German Bundestag. The Parliamentarian who chairs the German chapter of the Forum is half Indian.

The penny didn’t drop despite his name, Sebastian Edathy. Then Edathy spoke a few sentences in Malayalam to CPI(M)’s MP from Kerala, Suresh Kurup, at the first meeting of the Forum and floored the entire Indian contingent.

It turns out Edathy’s mother is German but his father hails from Kottayam and he ensured that his son, although born and bred in Germany, learnt a smattering of his father tongue.

The Indo-German Forum is the second parliamentary group formed to further ties between Indian MPs and their counterparts in other countries. The first was the Indo-US Forum which is going great guns with as many as 16 sub-committees at work on issues ranging from terrorism to HIV AIDS.