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Congressmen were irked that Mulayam Singh Yadav was taking their support for granted. Rather than talking to Soniaji directly, he used his l...

Congressmen were irked that Mulayam Singh Yadav was taking their support for granted. Rather than talking to Soniaji directly, he used his lieutenant Amar Singh, not exactly a favourite of the Congress president, as a go-between. At the CWC only very few 8212; Natwar Singh, A K Antony and Karan Singh 8212; felt that the Congress should join Mulayam8217;s government, most advocated that the party offer only outside support. To dispel misgivings a humbler Mulayam, after his vote of confidence, flew to Delhi to thank Gandhi personally for her support. He also regretted his earlier remarks about foreigners as prime ministers.

But Congressmen still suspect that Mulayam and the BJP have a secret understanding and are also apprehensive that he will try and protect his new ally Kalayan Singh in the Ayodhya cases. Another reason for Mulayam trying to keep the Congress chief in good humour is that he, like the BJP fears an electoral tie-up between the Congress and Mayawati. A major irritant in the relationship between the two parties is Amitabh Bachchan8217;s special ties with the Samajwadi Party courtesy Amar Singh. Bachchan was one of the Gandhi family8217;s oldest and closest friends until the two fell out very bitterly some years back.

Venkaiah8217;s man

The popular perception that Gingee Ramachandran was re-appointed a minister despite the CBI case against him because of pressure from MDMK boss Vaiko is incorrect. The MDMK leader languishing in a jail in Chennai had nothing to do with the re-induction and he would have preferred Scheduled Caste MP C Krishnan to have been made a minister. Significantly, both the MDMK minister M Kannappan and Krishnan did not attend Ramachandran8217;s swearing in. Actually, Ramachandran8217;s biggest backer is BJP Party President Venkaiah Naidu. And like the Trinamool Congress8217;s Sudip Bandhopadhaya, it is not clear where Ramachandran8217;s first loyalties lie.

The savvy Ramachandran has even engaged a press relations company to neutralise the negative publicity he had been receiving. When the CBI interrogated him within two days of his taking office, it was claimed to the media that the CBI was simply planning to wind up the case against the minister. In fact, the charges cannot be dropped without the sanction of the court.

Some secret this!

The smart spotlessly clean hexagonal complex on 35 Sardar Patel Marg is sandwiched between the Maurya and the Taj Palace hotels and many assume it is also a hotel. But appearances can be deceptive. It is actually the headquarters of the Intelligence Bureau IB. Last week visitors to the building were astonished to find posters all over proclaiming, 8216;8216;Secrecy Week8217;8217; with slogans like 8216;8216;It8217;s secret as long as you preserve it.8217;8217; Rs 8 lakhs has been earmarked by the IB for observing the Secrecy Week and it was seriously contemplated that the contract for the posters be awarded to a private agency. It defies logic that an intelligence agency which tries to keep its activities under wraps should go out of its way to publicise the fact!

Digging days are over

Culture Minister Jagmohan wants to introduce a new government service for the ASI which would be independent of the IAS. It would have been more to the point if theminister had talked about changing the archaic rules dating back to the time of Lord Curzon under which the ASI still functions. Almost all senior officials of the 7000-strong ASI department are archeologists by training. A preponderance of archeologists was understandable in days of the British when a large part of the work was digging sites. Today, apart from an occasional Ayodhya excavation, most of the ASI work concerns conservation. But there is not a single conservation architect on the ASI staff. For that matter there are almost no art historians, hydraulic engineers, geologists, landscape artists and surveyors on its pay rolls.

Before and after

The difference between holding office and being out of it can be stark as former President K R Narayanan discovered last week when he attended the swearing-in ceremony of Mamata Bannerjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan. As President everyone rose to greet Narayanan, but this time it was a frail Narayanan holding a walking stick getting up to namaskar the PM and the DPM. He had to be assisted by Jaswant Singh since he was extremely shaky on his feet.

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After the swearing, President Abdul Kalam escorted his guests to the adjoining room for tea, but he did not notice his predecessor. Narayanan quietly left the hall without stopping for refreshments.

Ostrich-like stance

A veteran Delhi politician noticing Madan Lal Khurana, the party8217;s chief ministerial candidate for Delhi, and BJP President Venkaiah Naidu, interrupted their conversation to warn that the reports he heard about the forthcoming Delhi University Students Union elections were most disturbing. Both senior BJP leaders airily dismissed his misgivings. As it happened a few days later the ABVP was trounced thoroughly in all four DUSU posts by the NSUI. Even Om Prakash Chautala8217;s candidate did better than the ABVP for the post of DUSU vice president. Khurana, however, refuses to read the writing on the wall and insists that the DUSU polls have no impact whatsoever on the forthcoming Delhi assembly elections.

The RSS weekly The Organiser, instead of introspecting on the ABVP defeat in the Capital, cheered because the BJP8217;s student wing had won the Goa University students council elections the same week!