Fly on the Wall

Shuffling secretaries

Defence Secretary T.R. Prasad will replace Prabhat Kumar, who is lobbying hard for a three-year foreign posting in Brussels after retirement, with the backing of L.K. Advani. The PMO, though, is not too fond of him. Two other secretaries, A.K. Gokak and Arvind Verma are retiring by the month-end and another has sought premature retirement. Prasad is the seniormost, and said to be a tough nut to crack. V.K. Khanna may be moved over to the India Trade Promotion Organisation and a top bureaucrat from Uttar Pradesh may be brought in for defence.

Justice comes calling

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh may finally bow before the Liberhan Commission, inquiring into the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid, and may depose on August 18. A defiant Kalyan was told that if he continued to ignore the bailable warrants issued by the Commission, he would have to face a non-bailable warrant. Kalyan has now found a way out: appear before the commision but refuse to depose. Though the commission is empowered to summon witnesses, it cannot compel them to depose. Since Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar was let off without too much grilling by the commission and he did not indict Kalyan Singh, the former UP CM may decide against embarrassing his mentor, L.K. Advani.

Indirect access

RSS chief K. S.Sudarshan, before leaving for a month-long videsh yatra, has taken a vital decision: that he will not directly interact with the Vajpayee government. The RSS joint general secretary, Madan Das Devi has been tasked with talking to the political leaders. The soft-spoken low-profile Devi has been laying emphasis on regular interaction among the various wings. The PMO is also comfortable with him. The other day, Vajpayee invited him over to be part of the all-party delegation to Srinagar after the massacre. A number of closed door meetings have also taken place to resolve differences on the economic front.

Vigilante in waiting

Central Vigilance Commissioner N. Vittal’s trailblazing ideas of `keeping tabs on neighbours’ and `genetic engineering to fight corruption’ seem to have derailed the CVC Bill yet again. If reports emanating from the Parliament House are any indication, the Bill won’t be cleared in the monsoon session either. The Sharad Pawar committee on the CVC Bill had not cleared it yet. It does not figure in the government’s priority list either. This doesn’t perturb Vittal though, since he continues to enjoy the power to rule the CBI, PSUs and other bodies.

The other Naidu

Advani may have wanted to quit the Home Ministry after the Kashmir massacre. But he didn’t convey these views to the PM. It was M. Venkiah Naidu, BJP general secretary and spokesperson who was with Advani on that fateful day, who heard Advani out. Naidu vociferously argued against such a step on the ground of timing. His 20-minute talk with Advani made the senior BJP leader change his mind. And it was Naidu who relayed Advani’s views on the issue to his friends in the media. The PM was kept out of the private tete-a-tete.

The author can be contacted at harishgupta45@hotmail.com

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