Et tu Brutus

After Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan came out in the open to declare war against his former ally Laloo Prasad Yadav, accusing the RJD boss ...

After Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan came out in the open to declare war against his former ally Laloo Prasad Yadav, accusing the RJD boss of tarnishing the UPA8217;s good name, Laloo was heard cursing his bad luck with proteges. He noted woefully that every person he had raised to the skies had stabbed him in the back. The long line of beneficiaries of his generosity who later betrayed him, according to Laloo, includes Nitish Kumar, Sharad Yadav, Ramji Lal and Ranjan Yadav.

Recently, Laloo received reports that a protege whom he had made a member of the Bihar Public Service Commission was badmouthing him. Laloo decided to personally investigate whether the allegation was true. Laloo changed his accent and pretending to be a BBC correspondent telephoned the commission member. 8216;8216;What is your opinion of Laloo Yadav?8217;8217; he asked the credulous man, who was so excited at the thought of being spoken to by the international press that he threw discretion to the winds and launched an attack on Laloo8217;s casteism and nepotism. A furious Laloo fumed, 8216;8216;I picked up this man from nowhere and he dares to badmouth me!8217;8217;

PS minus perks

One of Manmohan Singh8217;s notes to ministers dwells on the ticklish subject of their private secretaries and additional private secretaries. The PM has warned against PSs mixing with representatives of industrial houses. PSs have been told firmly not to pass on information regarding decisions taken or about to be taken at Cabinet meetings to businessmen and journalists. The private secretaries have also been instructed to avoid parties thrown at farmhouses and hotels by business interests. Not to use cars and other facilities provided by PSUs. Most importantly they should not write letters recommending anyone8217;s appointment, posting or transfer. Only the minister is entitled to do so.

Incidentally, many PSs from the last regime continue in the same position but with new masters. For instance, George Fernandes8217;s additional PS now works for P R Kyndiah, Shahnawaz Hussain8217;s former PS is attached to E Ahamed, Ananth Kumar8217;s PS is working for Ghulam Nabi Azad and the PA to Dasari Narayana Rao had worked earlier with Chandrababu Naidu and the late G M C Balayogi.

Thoughts of Manmohan

Ministers and secretaries to the Government of India are inundated with circulars from the Prime Minister or from the Cabinet Secretary and PMO on behalf of Manmohan Singh. The subjects range from not exploiting PSUs and ensuring good governance to checking inflation. One memorandum to secretaries asked them not to use acronyms and to spell out the names in full in notes prepared for the Minister. The suggestion was reportedly triggered off by a Cabinet meeting where a Minister stumbled reading out two sentences with the following short forms8212;FIPB, CG, CS, FMCG, WTO and G5. Most of his cabinet colleagues were baffled as to what he was talking about.

Taking a cue from the PM, the Defence Secretary sent out a message offering gratuitous advice to officials attending the Independence Day function at Red Fort asking them not to travel by their official cars and instead work out a pool system with three colleagues. This would save on parking space and help security. Few followed his advice.

1 1 = 0

The BJP miscalculated badly in breaking its alliance with Om Prakash Chautala8217;s party. It did not win a single parliamentary seat from Haryana. A powerful group in the BJP had sold the argument that in case of the Chautala alliance, one plus one did not necessarily make two and that many traditional BJP voters were turned off by the autocratic Haryana Chief Minister.

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For the forthcoming Haryana assembly elections, there is a serious proposal, blessed by L K Advani and Sushma Swaraj, that Bansi Lal should be projected as the BJP8217;s chief ministerial candidate as there is no tall leader in its ranks. This seems rather like going from the frying pan into the fire. The party8217;s upper-caste urban vote bank is likely to be alienated at the prospect of Bansi Lal and opt for the Congress instead. Nor will the BJP state leadership take kindly to a traditional enemy being foisted on them rather than someone being selected from its own ranks, such as Sonepat MP Kishan Singh Sangwan. Bansi Lal8217;s own popularity is in any case waning, none of his candidates including his son Surinder Singh won in the Lok Sabha polls.

Yawning gap

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke for almost an hour at the AICC meeting last week. Singh is no orator and his high-pitched voice without any inflection put some delegates to sleep, while others walked out of the venue. In contrast to the applause which greeted every utterance of Sonia Gandhi, there was not a single cry of 8216;8216;Manmohan Singh zindabad8217;8217;. Rahul Gandhi, who had cheered his mother most enthusiastically, could not help stifle a yawn when the PM continued to drone on and on. Unfortunately for Rahul, the close-circuit television cameras were focused at that moment on the front row, where he was sitting. Gandhi8217;s wide open mouth flashed on the two giant screens for everyone in the media to see.