CBI’s crore score

Actually there are plenty of Haryana businessmen who claim that Chautala’s two sons milked the state during his tenure, but hearsay is not good enough. The CBI’s record for hounding politicians out of power in disproportionate assets cases is suspect. The investigative agency once claimed that former Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal had assets worth Rs 25,000 crore. It finally made out a case for Rs 78 crore, which has yet to be filed in a court of law.

Leading questions

With the re-opening of the Jessica Lal murder case, all Delhi Police officers who were in charge of the original investigations have been questioned. But U K Katna, who heads the fresh probe ordered by the court, has ignored two significant leads. Amod Kanth, who was in charge of the badly mishandled original investigation and who is now Arunachal Pradesh DGP, runs an NGO for streetchildren called Prayas. Bina Ramani had invited Hollywood star Steven Seagal to Delhi for a fundraiser, and some of this money was donated to Prayas.

Y S Dadwal, a senior police officer who was present that infamous night at Tamarind Court—even though he claims to have left before the murder—has not been re-examined. His testimony is important both to establish who invited him there and whether he was well-acquainted with the father of a key accused, as he was earlier posted in Chandigarh. Dadwal, now Special Commissioner (Administration), Delhi Police, is a batchmate of Katna and in the running to become the next Delhi Police Commissioner.

Treachery and betrayal

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi lost the election for the presidency of the Supreme Court Bar Association by 660 votes. His margin of defeat was the largest in the association’s history even though his opponent, Krishna Mani, is a low-key lawyer. The suspicion that Singhvi’s party colleagues in the legal fraternity played a role in his downfall, since they did not want another lawyer muscling in on their territory, is not unfounded. Singhvi hinted as much in his newspaper column where he talked of ‘‘treachery and betrayal’’.

Arjun shoots new arrow

After his reservation missile, Arjun Singh has launched a fresh offensive against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The HRD Minister has come out with a proposal that after two and a half years in power, Manmohan Singh should allow a representative of one of the UPA allies, preferably the Left, to take over as prime minister. His reasoning is that at present the Congress party gets all the flak for the unpopular decisions taken by the Government, while the UPA allies take the credit for the achievements. By handing over the top job to one of the allies, the Congress would apparently not be burdened by the anti-incumbency factor at the next general election.

Arjun Singh has been sounding out Congress members on his new brainwave. Since it is unlikely that the Congress would relinquish the prime minister’s job to another party, the wily Madhya Pradesh veteran might actually be asking for a change of guard within the party. Cynics suggest Ajit Jogi, a good friend of Arjun Singh, was more upfront, stating clearly what Singh hinted at obliquely.

Division of XP

Arif Khan, formerly our ambassador to Damascus, recently returned to India and was appointed head of a newly created Department of Public Diplomacy. The job involves educating the public in India and abroad on our foreign policy through documentaries, books, and interacting with think tanks and state governments. Some see it is as a demotion since the new department has been sliced out of the External Affairs Publicity Division, which in fact Khan headed many years back as MEA spokesperson. Khan’s well-wishers, however, compare the newly set up desk to the US State Department’s Public Affairs Division and insist that his role will be similar to that of the high-profile Karen Hughes.

Useful JNU ties

The NCP’s D P Tripathi, along with the CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury, is playing a key role in negotiations with Nepali politicians, including the Maoists. It is not because Sharad Pawar’s party is particularly focused on our Nepal policy but because the enterprising Tripathi has old connections with the country. As a Jawaharlal Nehru University student activist, Tripathi was in contact with many Nepali students in India, who are today key players in the country’s government and politics. For instance, Yechury, Tripathi and Nepali Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai were all students of JNU around the same time. In fact, Tripathi preceded Yechury as president of the JNU Students’ Union.

Last week Nepali Maoist leader Prachanda visited Tripathi’s house secretly to meet both him and Yechury.