Jobbing for JacobIt was none other than P.A. Sangma who got M.M. Jacob his second term as Meghalaya Governor. The Nationalist Congress Party leader and Meghalaya MP was obviously consulted by the Prime Minister when the vacancy arose. Home Minister LK Advani and even the PM had other ideas about who was to be housed in Meghalaya's Raj Bhawan. But Sangma, who can share at least some credit with Amar Singh in preventing Sonia Gandhi from becoming Prime Minister, wanted Jacob for another term. A theory that's also doing the rounds is that Jacob's appointment will send out the right signals at a time when Christians are being attacked in different parts of the country. It also indicates that Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar may not be given a post-retirement reward. The PMO, sources say, is not too happy with Prabhat Kumar lately.After Gandhi, who?President K.R. Narayanan seems to be in a dilemma over the replacement of his secretary Gopal Krishan Gandhi. Though Gandhi's decision to quit Rashtrapati Bhawan and his subsequent posting as envoy to Sri Lanka had been known for some time, Narayanan has not made up his mind on Gandhi's successor yet. The name of D.K. Manavalan, a 1965 batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, did not find favour for several reasons. The President's favourite bureaucrat, banking secretary Devi Dayal, has not yet been sounded out. A Dalit himself, Devi Dayal himself is disinclined. Rashtrapati Bhawan sources say there is no hurry as Gandhi will be on leave until August 5. During the intervening period, he will interact with Tamil leaders and officials of the external and home ministries. He will join duty in Colombo on August 14. Until then, joint secretary S.K. Sharief is likely to hold charge.Uplinking the North-eastAfter the Kashir (read Kashmir) channel, Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley is set to start a 24-hour North-east TV channel. The under-developed states of the North-east region have been pressing the Centre for a long time to have their own TV channel. Jaitley decided to pay a four-day visit to the N-E region, surveyed the area himself and cleared the plan in principle. At least 30 low-powered transmission towers will be installed in addition to starting the channel. The private sector is also being persuaded to contribute the way it did in Kashmir.None of your businessInstead of proceeding against cricketers who have amassed wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income, the Revenue Department is contemplating action against its joint commissioner Vishwa Bandhu Gupta for going to town against the corrupt. Gupta went on record to say that the family of an Indian cricketer had declared income under the VDIS in 1996-97. The amount ran into crores of rupees. Nothing happened for weeks. Since the player yields considerable political clout and has also ensured his re-entry in the team, nobody's willing to bell the cat. Now the Revenue Department is contemplating action against the IT officer on the ground that it was not his business.Hostess at home and abroadPratibha Advani may be working for ANI, a TV news agency. Yet, she did not accompany her father and Union Home Minister L.K. Advani to Israel, Paris and London in her capacity as a journalist. The ANI despatched a separate team to cover the 10-day visit of Advani, which, incidentally, is his first after assuming office. Pratibha joined him as official hostess and part of the official delegation. Thus, she joins the likes of Ranjan Bhattacharya, who is an official host to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The foster son-in-law normally assumes the rank of official host whenever the PM travels within or outside India.Sharad digs his heels inWhen Civil Aviation Minister Sharad Yadav decided to cancel the licence of the general sales agents in London and Canada, all hell broke loose. After all, the licence was given during the United Front's government tenure because of connections with the former Prime Minister and a top CPM functionary. But it was BJP leader Sahib Singh Verma who bitterly fought for restoration of the licence to the London-based GSA. But Yadav stuck to his guns, saying he had decided to appoint consolidators, which is the practice the world over. The move would save Air-India more than Rs 100 crore.
