Jaswant Cleans On…

The action plan drawn up by additional secretary B P Mishra, who has been given 90 days to set the place in order, has created a flutter in North Block. All those occupying unauthorised makeshift cabins, which have destroyed the facade of the heritage building, have been ordered to vacate and find alternative space.

The expenditure, revenue and economic affairs departments have to remove their numerous almirahs which currently clutter the corridors. There is a similar six-week deadline for clearing out abandoned air cooler plants and dead electrical cables. The courtyards of Lutyens’s historic building, used as a dumping ground, are being cleared of broken furniture and odds and ends.

The CPWD has been ordered to restore the gilded elaborately painted central dome ceiling which was covered with plaster of Paris during one of the routine white washing exercises!

… Yashwant Pitches In Too

Journalists at External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha’s first press confrence this week were assailed by an overpowering smell of agarbatti trying to camouflage a foul odour. Although the room had been fumigated just a day earlier and a dozen air freshening machines installed, the strange smell could not be eradicated.

The swanky conference room at Shastri Bhavan, where the press meet was held, was renovated earlier this year at considerable expense and the External Affairs ministry is understandably furious that the CPWD has been unable to locate the source of the stink, which has been steadily growing stronger over the last month. At first, dead rats in the false ceiling were thought to be the cause, but a check of the vents ruled that out.

Last heard, the CPWD engineers were investigating whether the damp in the wall to wall carpeting was the cause, even as MEA officials grind their teeth in frustration.

Amma Vs Madam

The vibes between Sonia Gandhi and J Jayalalithaa were always cool and the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s recent outburst is merely one more manifestation of the strained relations.

Jayalalithaa had high regard for Rajiv Gandhi, who made it a point to inquire solicitously about her various ailments. She felt Rajiv’s widow was cold and distant in contrast. Sonia, on the other hand, was hurt that Jayalalithaa did not even call on her in Delhi to condole Rajiv’s assassination.

The 1999 tea party hosted by Subramaniam Swamy brought the two women together very briefly. Jayalithaa felt betrayed, claiming that Sonia had given her an assurance that an opposition meeting would first be called under Jyoti Basu to chalk out the strategy for toppling the Vajpayee government. (Though Jayalalithaa did not voice her ambitions openly, she hoped to be the consensus candidate for PM which explains why she came armed with 42 suitcases to Delhi.)

But within an hour of the meeting with Jaya, Sonia had gone to Rashtrapati Bhawan and staked her claim for prime ministership. Even though they continued to be allies, Jayalithaa displayed her pique every now and then, for instance, standing Sonia up at the much hyped Villupuram joint election rally.

One of the few things the women now share in common is a hostility towards Swamy.

1 Minister, 2 ByBungalows

Ministers of State who live in spacious type six bungalows want to know how Vijay Goel managed to get two such bungalows allotted to him. Last year, Goel wrote a letter to the Urban Development ministry explaining that as an MoS in the Prime Minister’s Office, many people call on him, including foreign diplomats, and he needed an additional house to receive visitors.

He claimed that his bungalow was so overcrowded that there was not even space to park his car in the driveway. Urban Development Minister Anath Kumar cleared the file even though officials in the estate department demurred that other ministers would be encouraged to make similar requests for special treatment.

Cop With Clout

The cop on the run, Ravi Kant Sharma, has been helped often in his career by political godfathers. In 1993, he was selected for a much coveted assignment as India’s representative to the Interpol in France, even though he did not possess the minimum qualification of having worked with an investigating agency like the CBI.

During Gujral’s brief tenure as PM he was appointed his OSD. Later, his name was included in the panel for a vigilance officer for Air India. The Personnel ministry removed Sharma’s name, but it was reinstated under pressure and he was selected.

Information Gap

On the day Vice President Krishan Kant passed away, Doordarshan was nearly an hour behind private TV channels in conveying the news. The director news was transferred to DAVP by way of punishment. But within a month the officer has been rehabilitated and, ironically, appointed information officer to the vice president.

Illustrations by Ajit Kumar