Is anybody Home?

The Opposition may fret and fume, but Home Minister Shivraj Patil has never let a controversy or two get in his famously coiffured hair. So even as the crisis over Amarnath was brewing in Jammu last month and everyone looked towards the Home Ministry to see what it would do, Patil was off to Puttaparthi to have his book on the Bhagwad Gita released by the godman Sai Baba on July 18. Not only that, it now turns out he used the special Embraer aircraft for the trip 8212; flying in the morning and coming back by evening. While he is entitled to a special aircraft as the Home Minister, questions are being raised about whether he can do so for a personal trip involving his own book release.