Fly On The Wall

Race Course Road jinxThe Prime Minister has given the go-ahead for a special pooja at his official residence after being told the house i...

Race Course Road jinx

The Prime Minister has given the go-ahead for a special pooja at his official residence after being told the house is jinxed. Ever since Race Course Road was converted into the PM8217;s complex, comprising five bungalows in the 8217;80s, none of its occupants could get another term in office. It was Rajiv Gandhi who had identified this area. But he could not re-enter its portals after vacating it in 1989. In fact, he survived in the house for just two-and-a-half years. V.P. Singh failed to complete even one year; Chandra Shekhar8217;s tenure was less. Only the learned P.V. Narasimha Rao completed his full term. But, he too failed to return. Vajpayee, on the other hand, became PM again as he did not shift from his 7 Safdarjung Road residence during his 13 days of power in 1996. The fate of H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral is well known too. Obviously, Vajpayee wants to range the gods on his side.

Operation Flop

Word8217;s out on why Sonia Gandhi kept Operation Bellary a secret noteven the SPG personnel travelling with her knew about it and why she got upset over its leakage. Her managers, it seems, were working overtime to get her elected 8220;unopposed8221;. They had struck advance deals with candidates as well as parties and ensured the withdrawal of the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate from Bellary. Since the Bellary seat was in the Lok Shakti quota under the BJP-JD U alliance, the Lok Shakti candidate was reportedly in touch with some Sonia loyalists. But someone played spoilsport and there was a leakage. Immediately, the BJP air-lifted Sushma in an equally secretive manner. The scapegoat of the affair: Arjun Singh.

It is learnt he is being sidelined because a journalist close to him had published a Sonia-from-Bellary report before hand. Now he is cooling his heels at Canning Lane.

Modi8217;s makeover

BJP general secretary Narendra Modi is fast emerging as the Hindi-speaking face of the party on the small screen. The BJP already has a battery of speakers in English 8212; ArunJaitley, Arun Shourie, etc 8212; but the party was searching for a young face for the Hindi audience. Since J.P. Mathur is busy managing the media and Sushma Swaraj is held up in Bellary, the party8217;s find is Modi. As of yet, Modi will keep his job even after September 5. Sushma returns from Bellary that day only to take off on a BJP-hired aircraft for countrywide campaigning. She will also spend a couple of days in Amethi. Win or lose, Sushma is the gainer in Bellary.

On old wings

The Communication Squadron of the IAF, managing aircraft for the VVIPs 8212; the President, Vice-President and the PM 8212; may have to overhaul its ageing fleet if Vajpayee returns to power. Two 737 Boeings, Avroes and obsolete helicopters have made it almost impossible for the PM to address more than 3 meetings a day. He cannot land at small airports because the IAF does not have small aircraft. The Boeings can land only at major airports and the flying time of old copters is far too much. When the PM wanted the IAF to acquirenew flying machines, pat came the reply that it would require the Election Commission8217;s nod. That put the modernisation in the cold storage.

Intelligence lapse

Now you know why the Intelligence Bureau or the RAW are usually caught napping. Because they are always doing absurdly inane things. A battery of sleuths belonging to the two agencies were busy identifying persons coming to attend a condolence meeting to condemn the assassination of Sri Lankan human rights activist Dr Neelan Tiruchelvam the other day.

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If there were a few hundred assembled at the UNDP conference hall, half of them belonged to the intelligence agencies.