Fly on the wall

A time for tough talking All the hype generated outside the Prime Minister's Office and 7 Race Course whenever the Cabinet Committee on D...

A time for tough talking
All the hype generated outside the Prime Minister8217;s Office and 7 Race Course whenever the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment CCD held its frequent pow-wows seems to have borne some fruit. After the stormy July 19 meeting, some tough choices have been made: That the CCD should meet only after mutual understanding between Disinvestment Minister Arun Jaitley and the minister in charge of the concerned PSU; that the Prime Minister will preside only after a consensus is reached among other ministers on a specific PSU; that while there is no final word on petroleum being declared as a strategic sector, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik will consider selling IBP and not the prized IOC, GAIL, ONGC or even HPCL and; that equal hype be created around meetings on investments in the infrastructure sector to deflect attention from disinvestment. Some ministers felt that the brouhaha surrounding disinvestment made it seem as though We are selling and doing nothing else8217;.

Brajesh does his homework
The Prime Minister8217;s principal secretary, Brajesh Mishra, flew to the US to meet Sandy Berger before Atal Behari Vajpayee8217;s proposed visit to New York and Washington beginning September 6. Since there is a possibility that Parliament may reject the proposal to sign the CTBT, the government is keen that the CTBT not be discussed at all during the monsoon session. External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh told the consultative committee that the government is keen on signing the dotted line. But it is for the speaker to allocate time for a debate. Mishra may have also to fine-tune the PM8217;s programmes during his 12-day trip to the US. Also to fly to USA, though separately, are members of Vajpayee8217;s foster family. Though son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya may return before the end of the month, others may stay on. Bhattacharya is maintaining a low profile and even during the PM8217;s Rome-Lisbon visit, he stayed away completely from the media glare while the daughter-in-law and the grand-daughter mingled frequently.

Readying for the kill
Remember Punita Kumar Sinha? The daughter-in-law of Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha who works for a foreign fund as its Asia region head? Well, the company made money legitimately, but there were some who alleged that Sinha had helped her by giving her inside information. Now, Punita is set to file a defamation case against the newspaper that had printed these allegations in Delhi and London. With the onset of the Parliament session, the issue of the Maurititius-based fund is bound to be raked up. But the man who initiated the whole debate 8212; Kirit Somaiya, a BJP MP 8212; had a long chat with the FM to explain that he had only attacked the policy, not an individual fund or a person.

Sidestepping Sonia
SONIA Gandhi has some more reasons to be upset. Leave alone consulting her or taking her permission, the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra did not even inform her that sanction to prosecute Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray has been granted. And guess who congratulated Bhujbal for the bold step? Dissident CWC member Jitendra Prasada. Now, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has explained that Bhujbal did not even inform him before telling the state cabinet. For one, Sonia would remove the Pradesh Congress chief without consulting the CM. But will the PCC chief get her the support of the required delegates in the ensuing organisational polls?

Harish Gupta can be contacted at harishgupta45hotmail.com