Cover Uncovered

A fortnight ago, the Cabinet cleared the proposal to amend the SPG Act in the coming Parliament session so that former prime ministers who a...

A fortnight ago, the Cabinet cleared the proposal to amend the SPG Act in the coming Parliament session so that former prime ministers who are entitled to SPG protection for 10 years would get SPG security cover for only a year after demitting office.

The unanimous agreement on the issue was because of the telling amounts of money and manpower being frittered away in protecting the former prime ministers and their families.

Former PM Inder Kumar Gujral has 167 SPG personnel and 25 SPG cars at his residence at 5 Janpath, P V Narasimha Rao has 162 SPG personnel and 24 SPG cars at his 9 Motilal Nehru Marg bungalow and H D Deve Gowda has 159 SPG men and 24 SPG cars at his 5 Safdarjung Lane bungalow. At Hyderabad, 71 SPG men and 25 SPG cars are deployed to protect Rao8217;s offspring. At Bangalore, 68 SPG personnel and 60 cars are kept for the security of the Deve Gowda family.

Besides this, the CRPF is also posted outside the ex-PMs8217; homes and additional security from the local police deployed when they travel.

Some 3,700 Delhi policemen are on duty at the residences of the ex-PMs and their kin plus 1,800 CRPF men. When an ex-prime minister travels, seven SPG men accompany him on his flight.

Weathervane Mahajan

Prime Minister Vajpayee8217;s growing isolation within the BJP is reflected in the enthusiasm with which the proposal to promote L K Advani as deputy prime minister has been generally received by party members.

Probably the only BJP minister in the Cabinet who can be considered solely Vajpayee8217;s man is External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh. HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi may be anti-Advani but he is considered his own man. Which way the wind is blowing is clear from the volte face of the savvy Pramod Mahajan.

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Once Advani8217;s loyal lieutenant, Mahajan switched sides shortly before Vajpayee became prime minister. Mahajan has now succeeded in getting back into the Advani camp.

In the bargain, Mahajan8217;s influence has grown steadily. The brains trust of the NDA government on crucial issues used to be Vajpayee, Advani, Jaswant Singh and George Fernandes. Mahajan has become the fifth member of the core group.

Quote Unquote

Time magazine correspondent Alex Perry has moved out of his farmhouse on the outskirts of Delhi and is looking for a new residence ever since he received threatening calls following the publication of his address in a New Delhi newspaper.

Incidentally, the Time letter of regret to Jaswant Singh, which the magazine denied was an apology for the article on Vajpayee, was actually meant to be a 8216;Thank You8217; note to Singh for getting Perry8217;s visa issue resolved.

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But the magazine used the thank you message to slip in an apology to the external affairs minister. A member of Time8217;s letters staff, in a reply to a reader from Dayton in Ohio, goofed up royally by identifying Jaswant Singh as the source of a quote that Vajpayee appeared 8216;8216;half dead8217;8217;.

What8217;s worse, the staffer added in her letter to the subscriber: 8216;8216;If that view reflects Singh8217;s effort to confront the final possibility it is surely understandable.8217;8217;

At least the PMO can take comfort from the fact that Time8217;s letter to Singh acknowledged that such unattributed quotes should not normally have been carried by the magazine!

InHospitable shelter

When film star Rajnikant sued Narasimha Rao8217;s son P V Ranga Rao for not returning Rs one crore owed to him a year-and-a-half ago, Rao, a former Andhra education minister, moved into the Nizam House hospital in Hyderabad.

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His strategy to evade arrest is now posing a major problem for both hospital authorities and his SPG guards. The hospital has not been paid its dues for the past year.

Recently, it tried to shame its influential patient into the clearing area by pasting a daily update of the dues at the entrance.

Ill-advised Mention

A comic sidelight at the function to release L K Advani8217;s prison diaries on June 26 was that Justice M Rama Jois, in his speech on the Emergency days, kept harping on Vajpayee8217;s illness, especially his sciatica8212;an ailment even Alex Perry8217;s dubious research did not uncover8212; a quarter century ago.

The Karnataka judge seemed blissfully unaware of the recent brouhaha over the Time article on the PM8217;s health. The guests on the dais8212; Vajpayee, Advani and Fernandes8212; appeared uncomfortable with Jois8217;s frequent references. However, two central ministers in the audience did not hide their smiles.

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Incidentally, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Najma Heptullah, who was thwarted by her own party in realising her vice presidential ambitions, was the only Congress member present.

Human Sacrifice?

In the controversy over the animal sacrifices by Nepal King Gyanendra at the Kamakhya and Kalighat temples in Guwahati and Kolkata, Animal Welfare Minister Maneka Gandhi has maintained a stoic silence even though sacrifice runs counter to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

Perhaps the minister fears that if she speaks her mind at this juncture, she will be the human sacrifice by the Vajpayee government to appease a neighbouring head of state!

Illustrations by Ajith Kumar