Jinxed airportThe jinxed Bangalore International Airport is in trouble again. It is Andhra Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu who is causing sleepless nights to his counterpart in Karnataka, S.M. Krishna. The ambitious TDP supremo is not satisfied with top US companies making Andhra their next destination in India. He is understood to have told the policy-makers in the NDA government that he would like an international airport at Hyderabad. So Bangalore is likely to be pushed to the backburner. Though S.M. Krishna is lobbying with country cousin Ananth Kumar, the 5-year-old project has been grounded again. The Civil Aviation Ministry has told the Karnataka government that the entire issue of the international airports would be reviewed afresh by the Union Cabinet.Old warhorses never fade away. M.S. Verma, a former chairman of the State Bank of India, shot into prominence for clearing the Rs 133-crore advance payment to a Turkish firm without properly scrutinising the papers sent by the NFL and without seeking proper bank guarantees. It was Verma again who cleared the Rs 64-crore loan to the scam-tainted CRB group. Now he is made a member of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).Mahajan's legacyPramod Mahajan may be a Brahmin by caste but he is a tough businessman by attitude. Even his successor Arun Jaitley gives full credit to Mahajan for what he did to the loss-making DD channels. He bid for the cricket rights for Rs 230 crores and made plans to sell them for Rs 650 crore. Against official advice, he also insisted for open bidding of the 108 FM channels. Result: The AIR made Rs 350 crore against an official estimate of just Rs 50 crores.He also ordered that all commissioned programmes on DD should be stopped within three months if they are popular, they should get a sponso or get out. Jaitley is unable to implement this order due to pressure from powerful TV personalities.Change of guardThere are many who say that Home Minister L.K. Advani's intelligence agencies failed on several occasions. But there is certainly a change of guards at his Pandara Park residence. Advani and his wife Kamla were to celebrate their marriage anniversary at the India Habitat Centre on February 25. But daughter Pratibha quietly arranged for a party in the park outside the house itself without Kamla having an inkling of what was going on inside the house. So Advani has suggested that let Pratibha now take charge of the household.Agrawal Mark IIAfter Ashok Agrawal of FERA fame, it may now be the turn of an income-tax officer to face the music. D.C. Agrawal, who once headed the hawala probe in the DG (Investigation), is under scrutiny for his deeds during seven years of his tenure. He conducted 100-odd raids on politicians and industrial houses including the Mallyas, Padmini Polymers, Super Cassette Industries and a large number of exporters. Now the CBDT is filled with complaints of extortion against him.
