Chew on this

Sonia Gandhi8217;s moving jaws caused much irritation in the treasury benches trying to defend the indefensible during the Gujarat debate i...

Sonia Gandhi8217;s moving jaws caused much irritation in the treasury benches trying to defend the indefensible during the Gujarat debate in the Lok Sabha. The saffron mindset being what it is, ruling party members assumed that a 8216;8216;videshi mahila8217;8217; couldn8217;t be chewing on anything else but the 8216;8216;videshi8217;8217; gum. It turns out that Sonia was actually eating a clove. She apparently suffers from asthama and is prone to coughs. It8217;s common knowledge in Congress circles that she carries a small silver 8216;8216;dibbi8217;8217; with enough cloves and cardamom in it to last her through the day. It8217;s true that the rules forbid MPs to eat or drink in the House. An exception is made on Budget Day when the Finance Minister is permitted a glass of water to help him through his lengthy presentation of the year8217;s taxation and other fiscal proposals. But there are plenty of MPs who ignore the rules to chew pan masala, tobacco and even paan in the House.

Hungry and sleepy in Parliament

The worst sufferers of the extraordinarily long debate on Gujarat were members of the Parliament House staff. Many of them went hungry till the Lok Sabha finally wound up at 5 a.m. Normally, when either House sits beyond 9 p.m., arrangements are made for dinner, not just for MPs but for journalists covering the proceedings and the vast Secretariat that has to be on duty till the last MP leaves.

Yesterday, however, the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry cussedly refused to provide food. The argument was that the Gujarat debate was Opposition business, not Government business. Hungry MPs cleaned out the Central Hall canteen while journalists descended on the first floor cafeteria till the food ran out. As a result, there was nothing left for the watch and ward staff and other Parliament House employees. They were heard complaining that they couldn8217;t even find a glass of water to quench their thirst as the debate went on through the night. Such was the rush that at one point, Central Hall was packed with political leaders of all shades, from Sonia Gandhi to Chandra Shekhar to Sharad Pawar to Mulayam Singh Yadav to Somnath Chatterjee. All of them were looking for a quick bite before going back into the House.

Japanese fizz, gone flat already

The External Affairs ministry can be incredibly quixotic at times. After all the hype during Vajpayee8217;s December visit to Japan, the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Indo-Japanese diplomatic ties turned out to be a damp squib, at least from the Indian side. For some reason, the former Indian ambassadors to Japan were not invited to Jaswant Singh8217;s reception at which a commemorative stamp was released to mark the occasion. And at the Japanese Ambassador8217;s reception, the EAM was conspicuous by his absence. The official explanation was that he was attending a late evening Cabinet meeting. But he didn8217;t care to depute a representative either. In fact, the turnout from the MEA was remarkably poor. The Japanese are wondering what happened to the fizz that seemed to bubble when Vajpayee was in Tokyo.

Even guruji couldn8217;t stop this one

It8217;s ironic that the Congress revamp which left Arjun Singh out in the cold came the day after he was showered with blessings by his guru during a Ram Navmi function. Swami Avadeshanand of the Juna Akhara had ended his discourse at Singh8217;s residence that day with a prayer for good health. 8216;8216;Get well quickly,8217;8217; he told Singh. 8216;8216;The nation8217;s eyes are on you.8217;8217; The next day, any hopes he may have had after the Swami8217;s blessings were dashed. A series of changes in the AICC announced by Sonia Gandhi saw Ambika displace him as 10 Janpath8217;s chief aide.