FinMin’s new makeover

Shiv Sena MPs looked decidedly out of sorts when their new boss, Uddhav Thackeray, dropped in for Question Hour in the Lok Sabha during his brief visit to the Capital earlier this week. Most of them filed into the House, looked up at Thackeray sitting in the Speaker’s Gallery for VIP visitors and took their seats silently but seemed unsure whether they should be waiting on him instead. Two MPs, Satish Pradhan and Bhavna Gawli, threw caution to the winds and abandoned the House to sit next to Thackeray, sparking off loud murmurs among fellow MPs. Actually, the rules do not permit MPs to sit in the Speaker’s Gallery. Eventually, the murmurs grew loud enough for Thackeray to hear and he gestured to his companions to return to their seats. There was no such dilemma for journalists, however. Some of those who work for Marathi newspapers made a beeline for Thackeray and did a deep namaskar before taking their places in the Press Gallery. Their colleagues were taken aback by this show of deference but obviously, the Marathi correspondents know what’s good for them.

Tapping the political market

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya is tackling his political mergers and takeovers like business propositions. Before plunging into Subramaniam Swamy’s virtually defunct Janata Party, he commissioned the Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) to do a survey on the political and electoral worth of the party and its symbol of farmer and plough. According to the grapevine, he also got the IMRB to do a study on his profile among Karnataka masses as he wanted to know whether he was politically acceptable with his liquor business, stud farms and immense personal wealth. Now that he’s joined Swamy against the advice of many of his friends, the IMRB results are being put to test. So is the theory that shrewd business tactics can make for good politics.

Tiwari’s new overtures

Congress circles are not quite sure what Uttaranchal Chief Minister N D Tiwari is up to. In the last four months, he’s called on Sonia Gandhi only once. And he coincided the meeting with the mandatory trip a CM makes to the Capital for the annual Planning Commission discussions. The official excuse for his infrequent visits to headquarters is his frail health. Apparently, he was in hospital for some time recently. Yet, he checked out of his sick bed for a day to go to Hardwar to attend a function organised by a prominent sadhu with VHP affiliations. Apart from Tiwari, the sadhu’s other VIP guests were Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and Pravin Togadia. Interestingly, when the CM went back to hospital the next day, Singhal and Togadia paid him a courtesy call to inquire about his health.