Meanwhile

It started as a tiff over appointments in the recently created Commission and ended in her ordering the wholesale transfer of the department to the Northeast. The badly bruised Commissioner is quite bewildered. His is a statutory position, created specially to oversee national welfare schemes for the handicapped.

But Maneka deems otherwise. Her recorded explanation for the transfer is that the Northeast needs a senior officer read Sharma to monitor the disbursement of funds to the NGOs operating in the hill states. And if this meant shifting the headquarters of his Commission as well, the Minister was ready to oblige.

Behind every woman

The other Gandhi widow, Sonia, has also succeeded in ruffling feathers. After two months of anelectoral-victory-induced stupor, Congressmen are back to their favourite bitching game with Sonia providing the grist in her inexplicable appointments to the Congress Working Committee.

The prime target is the relatively unknown nominee in the women8217;s quota, Ganga Potai. Her only claim to fame, according to Congress circles, is her closeness to Arjun Singh. She surfaced as one of the youngest members of his Cabinet when he was Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister. Then she reappeared as a member of the National Commission for Women when he was Human Resource Development Minister. And now she is in the CWC, apparently after Singh made a fervent plea that he would give up his claim to a berth if she was accommodated instead.

As for the others, Mohsina Kidwai is being described as former UP Chief Minister Narian Dutt Tiwari8217;s candidate and N. Lakshmi Devi only proved the Yadav charge against a quota for women by grovelling in gratitude before Andhra PCC chief Y.S. Rajshekhar Reddy, quite oblivious to the fact thather new appointment places her above him in the Congress hierarchy.

Another Khurana?

There is an interesting little tale behind the unceremonious exit of Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha8217;s advisor, Mohan Guruswamy. The BJP grapevine says it was to have been a graceful bowing out on health grounds after the triumvirate of Vajpayee, Advani and Sinha decided his position had become untenable. His controversial resignation letter raking up the Christian issue was hidden away and Guruswamy was packed off on a telecom junket to the United States from where, according to the gentleman8217;s agreement, he was to have sent the usual spiel about doctor8217;s advice, etc.

Before that could happen, a leak to one of the pink papers speculated on Guruswamy8217;s impending doom because of his capers in the Finance Ministry. One of his friends was authorised to do a tit for tat and his resignation letter was suitably leaked to the media.

The Finance Minister only realised what was happening when correspondents startedcalling his office for a reaction. A hurriedly summoned pow wow among the BJP8217;s top brass decided Guruswamy would have to be 8220;sacked8221;. Till midnight, the harried spokesman of the Finance Ministry was on the phone to agencies and newspaper offices with Sinha8217;s version accusing Guruswamy of 8220;exceeding his brief8221;.

BJP circles are now bracing themselves for another Khurana on the rampage when Guruswamy returns from the US.

Losing out in Lucknow

After Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh nearly lost his job some weeks ago, his controversial aide, Kusum Rai, has decided to keep a low profile, at least when the Prime Minister comes constituency visiting to Lucknow. She was nowhere to be seen the last couple of times Vajpayee touched base with his voters.

One immediate fallout of Singh8217;s slipping hold in UP was the removal of the Lucknow BJP chief, Rajendra Tiwari, the day after Vajpayee8217;s last visit. Tiwari was known as a Rai nominee. But the lady8217;s hidden hand is still at work. Tiwari hasbeen appointed head of the UP Food and Essential Commodities Corporation. As soft a landing as he could get.

Babu8217;s bloomer

The armed forces never tire of poking fun at the IAS bureaucracy that runs the Ministry of Defence and the career of many a service officer. And the recent clash between the civilian authorities and the naval head, which paved the ground for Chief of Naval Staff Vishnu Bhagwat8217;s ouster, revived tales about a certain Joint Secretary8217;s bloomer in an open conference of the forces8217; commanders.

In the midst of serious discussions about US-stationed nuclear weapons in Diego Garcia, the exasperated JS wanted to know why the forces were so anxious. After all, he reasoned, Diego Garcia is far away in the South China Sea. The conference subsided in astounded silence. And although this happened sometime in October, Defence Ministry corridors are still buzzing with tales about the astonishing ignorance of basic geography among IAS officers.