Homing Bird

8226; Najma Heptullah has taken offence to Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal8217;s description of her as 8216;8216;a migratory bird8217;...

8226; Najma Heptullah has taken offence to Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal8217;s description of her as 8216;8216;a migratory bird8217;8217;. She points out that a migratory bird is one which comes from another country and that certainly doesn8217;t apply to her, implying that the cap might fit someone else in this party. Heptullah has been in the Congress for 30-odd years, long before those who call her a migratory bird, joined it. Thanks to her great-uncle Maulana Azad, Heptullah came in close contacts with the Nehrus and stayed at Teen Murti whenever she came to Delhi from Bhopal. She was in and out of Mrs Gandhi8217;s house and shared many meals with the family in 1977 after the party lost the election, when many birds of passage who are now back in the Congress had fled. Rajiv Gandhi appointed her deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.

So what went wrong between Sonia Gandhi and her? The vibes have been cool for some years. The coterie around Gandhi complained that Heptullah was hobnobbing with people from other political parties, forgetting that the strength of the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha is to be non partisan and to carry all sections of the House with her. Matters reached such a pass that some years back when Heptullah telephoned Gandhi to give her the good news that she had been elected chairperson of the prestigious Inter Parliamentary Union, Gandhi did not even bother to come to the phone to congratulate her. The popular Heptullah could have easily won the support of the non-Congress parties for the post of Vice-President, but ironically her own party refused to back her. The last straw for Heptullah was earlier this month when the only Congress leader who turned up at the annual birth anniversary function of Maulana Azad was Sheila Dixit.

Error of Judgment

8226; The legal world is abuzz with a recent incident in which eminent lawyer Fali Nariman remonstrated with a Supreme Court judge for ordering the court staff to forcibly drag out a litigant. The man who was arguing his special leave petition SLP in person complained that he was not given a chance to be heard before his matter was dismissed. Nariman who happened to be present was appaled at the judge8217;s high-handedness and walked out of the courtroom in protest. Nariman could afford to speak out because of his standing in the legal fraternity, a lesser lawyer could well have been charged with contempt. The Chief Justice has reportedly apologised to the litigant.

Stealing his Thunder

8226; Arif Mohammed Khan8217;s entry into the BJP was delayed twice. Arif was all set to join the party when he learnt that Hema Malini was also to be inducted that same day. Fearful that the actress would steal his thunder, he postponed his initiation. The next time Arif8217;s recruitment was clubbed with that of D P Yadav and once again Arif retreated since he did not want to be associated with the don. Yadav who was keen on company when the announcement of his entry was made 8212; hoping that it would take the focus away from him 8212; persuaded the Jat leader from western UP Satpal Malik to join along with him. As a bait he is reported to have promised financial backing if Malik stood for election.

With Arif and Malik8217;s induction into the BJP every member of the original Jan Morcha from Arun Nehru to Som Pal has joined the party except for V P Singh.

Landlady8217;s Preference

8226; The anti-India attitude of the Bangladesh government may well be traced directly to Prime Minister Khalida Zia. An additional ground for Zia8217;s pro-Pakistan stance could be the fact that she is the landlady to the Pakistan chancery in Dhaka. The house Zia rents out to the Pakistan government was bequeathed to her by the Bangladesh government after her husband8217;s death. But Zia refused to move in but continued to stay on in the cantonment bungalow which was allotted to her husband when he was alive. Even after she was voted to power, Zia did not shift to the house earmarked for the Prime Minister.

Whiners will Shine

8226; The protest agitaton by the Indian Information Service officers against their service conditions was partly sparked off by the BJP8217;s intra party rivalry. HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi felt that he was ignored by the Doordarshan News channel and not projected sympathetically in the IIM fee controversy. He suspected that the newly-appointed consultant editor Deepak Chaurasia, who is considered close to L K Advani, was responsible. Joshi instigated a former student of his from Allahabad University in the publications division to launch a campaign for bettering service conditions of the IIS. It was pointed out that Chaurasia a new recruit draws a salary of Rs 1.25 lakh plus perks, while the IIS officials get less than one sixth of this.

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Joshi may not have settled scores with his long time rival, but he has benefited the IIS. The service, completely marginalised ever since the Geetha Krishan report recommended that all six media units be wound up, is being treated with new respect. Advani, perturbed by newspaper headlines that the men behind the Shining India campaign were whining, has urged I038;B Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to offer them some sops.