Generation next meets

Yadav8217;s elder son Tej Pratap, who is studying at an international school in Patna, wants to be a pilot and the younger son, Tarun, who is a student at Delhi Public School, is an aspiring cricketer who at age 13 has already visited Chicago as part of the junior cricket team. Misa, who once helped her mother administer the state while papa was in jail, is now busy assisting her husband who hopes to set up his own computer software business.

Advanitage Adipur

L.K. ADVANI, who is pushing for simultaneous national and state elections, is reportedly contemplating changing his parliamentary constituency of Gandhinagar. Though the BJP won the Gandhinagar seat handily during the assembly elections thanks to the Modi wave, the Gujarat state capital is no longer considered a safe bet for the ruling party.

The assassination of Hiren Pandya, who looked after Gandhinagar on behalf of the DPM, was a major setback and his death has brought to the fore the infighting in the state BJP, with Pandya8217;s father accusing Narendra Modi of complicity in his son8217;s death. The latest headache for Advani is that the Chief Minister is heading for a confrontation with state government employees, talking of the need to discipline them and downsizing the Sachivalaya. Problem is that government servants form the bulk of the voters in Gandhinagar.

Years back, Gandhinagar voters gave Advani a scare with the hostile slogan 8216;8216;Pehle paani, phir Advani8217;8217; in the midst of his campaign and the DPM may not want to take any chances this time. The alternative constituency Advani has in mind is Adipur in Kutch which borders Pakistan where a large number of Sindhi refugees, including Advani8217;s own family, had settled after Partition. Arun Jaitley, who is considered close to the DPM, had paid special attention to the rehabilitation efforts in this region after the Bhuj earthquake and had made weekly visits. Significantly, Advani8217;s newly appointed OSD Sanjeev Mishra belongs to the Gujarat cadre and was once a collector of Kutch. So was Home Secretary N. Gopalaswami, also from the Gujarat cadre.

Junior minister8217;s plight

THE Shiv Sena8217;s Anandrao Vithoba Adsul, who is MoS for Finance, was very anxious to meet his boss, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh. But although Adsul8217;s PS kept telephoning Singh8217;s PS begging for an appointment, he was constantly fobbed off with the bland assurance that his request would be conveyed to the minister. Finally, a desperate Adsul telephoned Singh8217;s PS personally explaining that he needed to see Singh urgently. But he drew a blank.

The arrogance of the minister or his staff in refusing to spare a few moments for the junior minister is difficult to understand considering that all Adsul wanted was to present Singh an invitation for his son8217;s forthcoming wedding. Eventually, Adsul had no option but to sheepishly hand over the wedding card to Singh at the Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting in full view of the assembled MPs and officials.

Telephonic connection

MAYAWATI and Laloo Prasad Yadav had not spoken to each other for long. The bad blood was not just because they have teamed up with opposing camps. Both, after all, are conscious of the compulsions of politics. In Mayawati8217;s eyes Yadav8217;s unpardonable crime was gobbling up her entire party in the Bihar assembly by getting all five BSP MLAs to switch to his side.

But last week in Parliament, Laloo was one of the very few non-BSP MPs in the Rajya Sabha who came to Mayawati8217;s defence after her rash statement demanding that Jagmohan step down as minister. Laloo insisted on speaking in support of the UP Chief Minister even though Mulayam Singh Yadav8217;s brother, Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav, could be seen tugging at Yadav8217;s kurta and urging him to sit down. Mayawati has reciprocated Laloo8217;s chivalrous gesture by telephoning him to thank him personally.

Hai Ram, 180-degree turn

DURING the discussion on the CVC amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, maverick MP Ram Jethmalani made a 10-minute intervention in which he declared that poor Rajiv Gandhi had been unnecessarily persecuted in the Bofors case by the CBI. The assertion was made by the same man who during Gandhi8217;s regime had for a month issued a daily chargesheet against him with many of his accusatory queries relating to Bofors.

Jethmalani had even visited Switzerland on a sleuthing mission looking for leads against the then PM. As law minister in subsequent governments, Jethmalani had vetted the CBI investigations in the Bofors case.