Holy trinity

Bye bye not so blue

In the outgoing government those who are probably least affected are the lawyers. Even before the new government was sworn in there were clients anxious to hand over briefs to Law Minister Arun Jaitley since their legal representatives, P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal, were hoping to become ministers. When Jaitley joined the government, there was a reverse flow and Chidambaram and Sibal got many of his briefs.

Attorney General Soli Sorabjee had already conveyed to the Government in March that he would be stepping down. In anticipation of his return to private practice, Sorabjee recently constructed a new law chamber. He also lined up several academic assignments, including writing a book on Administrative Law of India for Butterworths. Sorabjee, a jazz fan, has now ample time to listen to his music collection, including one of his favourite records Bye Bye Blues, as well as watch his grandchildren practise on the drums and clarinet.

Family drama

Remember the TV clips of the theatrical man who twirled a sword and brandished a pistol at 10 Janpath threatening to shoot himself if Sonia Gandhi did not become prime minister. He is Gangacharan Rajput, a Lodh Rajput leader and former BJP MP who was once a protege of Kalyan Singh. Interestingly, Kalyan’s other protege is Uma Bharti, also of the same caste and she used to call Rajput ‘‘her dharam bhai’’. So while the brother was busy doing drama for Soniaji, the sister was indulging in her share of histrionics for the opposite side.

Clear the lobby

DMK leader M Karunanidhi refuses to stay at Tamil Nadu Bhavan in Delhi as long as his rival Jayalalithaa is chief minister, and he checked into a five-star hotel during his recent visit to the Capital. Many of the DMK MPs and their hangers-on, anxious to be near their leader, spread themselves out on the sofas of the hotel lobby and spent their time exchanging notes. The hotel staff were take aback when its exclusive lobby with muted music and guests speaking in hushed tones was converted into a raucous party office. Finally Karunanidhi had to order his flock to buzz off and not use the lobby as their meeting ground.

Still comatose

Both Vajpayee and Advani were so shell-shocked by the election results that they have barely opened their mouths at subsequent party meetings. Sushma and Uma’s outbursts and threats were not cleared by the party, but at the same time no one really tried to stop them either. With Vajpayee out of office, he may no longer be able to control the lunatic fringe in his party. Within a day of the government’s defeat, Govindacharya, who was banished ever since Vajpayee came to power, was back in action.

But there was no coordinated move in the Block Sonia campaign. Those who jumped into the fray, like Uma and Sushma, belong to different camps in the BJP and the recently unemployed Sahib Singh Verma simply saw a window of opportunity. Perhaps the saddest man in the party is L K Advani, who has dreamed all his life of shedding the epitaph, ‘‘Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.’’

More than we can chew

The Left MPs have yet to adjust to the age of television and their off-the-cuff vitriolic sound bytes often embarrass the new ruling party. CPI leader A B Bardhan first created a flutter in the market by remarking that the Disinvestment Ministry and Arun Shourie could go to hell, then he accused the media of spreading rumours by stating that Sonia Gandhi was not becoming prime minister. ‘‘It is as baseless as the media reports of Ganeshji drinking milk,’’ he scoffed.

Interestingly, Prime Minister-designate Manmohan Singh was one of the believers who went to a temple in Chanakyapuri to witness the Ganesh drinking milk phenomenon along with his wife. He was then finance minister and was taken there by his revenue secretary, M R Sivaraman.