Inside track

Bharadwaj promptly got a video clip of his speech from the Rajya Sabha Secretariat and presented the cassette to 10, Janpath so as to ensure that the object of his sycophancy noticed his efforts.

Bharadwaj, incidentally, is believed to be the guiding force behind Justice M.C. Jain8217;s missiles in both his interim and final reports. Bharadwaj was the Law Minister who selected Justice Jain to head the Commission at the start of P.V. Narasimha Rao8217;s tenure. Bharadwaj is aligned with Arjun Singh which is why the Commission8217;s finger of suspicion is pointed towards all of Arjun Singh8217;s foes, including Rao.

SinceChandraswami is considered close to Rao, he was an obvious target. The tantrik has plenty of dirty linen even if it is wholly unconnected to Rajiv Gandhi8217;s assassination. Subramanian Swamy is another convenient target since he has access to Sonia, a source of discomfiture to the Arjun Singh camp. Karunanidhi is a stick to hit out at P. Chidambaram, by questioning how a Gandhi loyalist could have such an electoral ally.

Proxy allotment

Sukh Ram approached the Minister for Urban Development Ram Jethmalani for a large ministerial bungalow for his son Anil Sharma. Jethmalani explained that this was not possible since his son was a first-time MP. The former minister for communication insisted that an exception should be made since he would be staying with Sharma. Jethmalani declined apologetically explaining that since Sukh Ram was no longer an MP the rules did not permit. 8220;I8217;ve given you a state and you can8217;t give me a house,8221; Sukh Ram thundered. Jethmalani backed down.

Missing China

TheMEA was just about to distribute a press release at the SAARC conclusion in Colombo exuding optimism over the Indo-Pakistan dialogue, when it learnt belatedly that the Pakistani spokesman had over an hour earlier issued a wet blanket of a statement terming the talks 8220;a waste of time.8221; The Indian press release was hastily withdrawn and a new statement prepared keeping in view the Pakistani dampner.

Incidentally, Indian correspondents at Colombo who were presented sets of special bone China made in Sri Lanka by Prime Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga were taken aback when they opened their parcels to find their tea sets incomplete. Someone had a tea pot missing, another a cup and so on. Since the parcels were distributed through the MEA the suspicion is that a middle man pinched bits of crockery to assemble a new set for himself; after all, journalists from other SAARC countries had no complaints about missing China.

An odd sight

A fortune has been spent beautifying Parliament House and the adjacentannex. But the effort is undermined thanks to a CRPF camp in one corner of the Parliament House compound in what was once the extended parking lot. During the Parliament session around 400 CRPF cops camp day and night in the tents. Washing lines with underwear strung up and cops off duty lounging on cots is a common sight as one drives up to the entrance.

Seat grabbing

Andhra Pradesh MP T. Subbirami Reddy gets an undue share of television coverage since he often grabs a front row seat in the Lok Sabha squeezing in between two veterans Indrajit Gupta and Somnath Chatterjee. This upsets his Congress party colleagues, including CWC member K. Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy who legitimately occupies the front row and two former chief ministers N.

Bhaskara Rao and N. Janardhan Reddy in the second row. Subbirami Reddy, a two-time MP has his bonafide seat in the fourth row. The affable Reddy, popular in the Capital as a party-thrower, is impervious to hints to move to his allotted seat.