Let's have a partyApart from the obvious political clout - even if you never win an election - there are other benefits in floating a political party. Which is probably why alleged mafia don Romesh Sharma launched his own party, the All India Bharatiya Congress Party. A political party is a convenient method of turning black money into white since donations to parties are tax exempt. If the donations are less than Rs 10,000, they do not even have to be declared to the Income Tax Department. An office-bearer's travel and hotel expenses can be billed to the party.In registering the name of a political party with the Election Commission, the trade mark law applies. You cannot appropriate a nomenclature which evokes somebody else's hard-earned goodwill. Nevertheless, the Election Commission permitted Vazhapdi Ramamurthy to name his one-man outfit the Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress, distressing Sonia Gandhi who always reserves the the coldest stares for Ramamurthy since she considers it misuse of her latehusband's name. Similarly, Thirunavakarasu was allowed to name his party AIADMK (MGR), despite Jayalalitha's objections. Sharma in August applied to the Election Commission for formal registration of the All India Bharatiya Congress party and the decision on it is still awaited. The AIBC appears to be an amalgamation of the names of the Congress and the BJP creating confusion in newspaper offices inundated with Sharma's press releases.Trivial pursuitsAt every other Cabinet meeting the proposal to install a statue of Mahatma Gandhi under the imperial canopy at India Gate crops up on the agenda. The contentious issue has been hanging fire for the last two decades. Nevertheless, each time the item comes up ministers feel obliged to hold forth once again on the same subject. Some argue that there should be a statue without the canopy, others want to persist with the canopy minus the statue. There was even a suggestion that the canopy should remain and the statue placed outside Parliament House.Apparently, people have forgotten that the original Mahatma Gandhi statue which was to be installed at India Gate was in fact hijacked by former Lok Sabha Speaker Shivraj Patil and placed at Parliament House. Shouldn't the precious time of the Cabinet be devoted to more meaningful discussions?A ludicrous decision at the Cabinet meet last week was to sanction a sum of Rs 2,000 per month to scientists specialising in atomic research, defence and space as incentive to stay on in the country. Considering that the amount is less than $50, it is ridiculous to expect that any scientist's decision whether or not to settle abroad would be swayed by the measly incentive offered.Cricket cartelCommissioning of news and entertainment programmes by Doordarshan comes under intensive media scrutiny. But in sports telecasts where the financial stakes are higher, sports journalists seldom point a finger at the curious goings-on. Take for example, Mark Mascarenhas's World Tel against whom Doordarshan is stillengaged in messy litigation. It has gone unnoticed that World Tel has re-entered DD through the back door. Former CEO S.S. Gill had unilaterally handed a company named Stracon the bonanza for handling most major cricket telecasts for DD. Stracon, in turn, has commissioned World Tel for its production contracts.These days World Tel seems omnipotent in Bangladesh. And Opposition MPs in Bangladesh have begun to query why the Bangladesh cricket board gets only minor benefit from the huge profits the Wills Cup matches are raking in. Similarly, during the Independence Cup in January this year, the Bangladesh cricket board sold the rights of the tournament for a half a million dollars, while revenue from rights for telecasting to Doordarshan and Coca-Cola sponsorship was around $ 5 million alone. If the International Cricket Council (ICC) is so keen to promote the cause of cricket in Bangladesh, which does not even have Test status, shouldn't it at least ensure that the country's cricket board gets a major shareof the profits?Unequal discussionThose trying to prevent Jaswant Singh's appointment as Foreign Minister put forward a curious argument. They point out that Singh has been negotiating on the CTBT with Strobe Talbott who is only an Under Secretary of State. If Singh was made Foreign Secretary, they argue, he would be on the level of Secretary of State Madeline Albright and unable to continue the on-going dialogue with Talbott!The specious argument has backfired. The PM's Principal Secretary, Brajesh Mishra, is negotiating with Gerad Errera, French President Jacques Chirac's special envoy and that is decidedly infra dig. Errera is only a deputy director in the French Foreign Office which is the equivalent of our joint secretary and Mishra is not just a full secretary, but Principal Secretary to the PM.Guardian angelEnforcement Director M.K. Bezbaruah has several guardian angels in the Opposition, willing to come to his rescue at any hint of governmental pressure on him. But does CPIMP Gurudas Dasgupta have to write a letter of protest to the Prime Minister simply because Bezbaruah is assigned temporary duty as an election observer to Mizoram? All joint secretary rank officers are routinely placed at the disposal of the Election Commission during the polls and there is no reason why Bezbaruah should be an exception.
