Meanwhile

She even persuaded Vajpayee to inaugurate her pet project, the National Reconstruction Corps, before the ministry8217;s Financial Advisor FA had cleared it. Then came the first blow. The FA refused to give her the funds she wanted. His reason: it would violate the Election Commission8217;s model code of conduct.

Not one to take 8220;no8221; for an answer, the imperious sanyasin badgered Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha until he agreed to give her a loan from his contingency fund. And forced the order out of him in one day by going on a fast 8212; no food, no water. It was the fastest clearance the finance ministry has seen.

But her troubles didn8217;t end there. Last week, the Election Commission stalled thescheme as predicted by the FA. Just can8217;t buck the system, Uma.

Entrances and exits

Factionalism is so rampant in the once-disciplined BJP that its leaders have started joking about it. Take for example what happened after a meeting of the party8217;s election campaign committee the other day. L.K. Advani and Pramod Mahajan went into a huddle in Kushabhau Thakre8217;s room while Sushma Swaraj and Venkaiah Naidu disappeared into the latter8217;s room.

When Advani left, Mahajan peeked into Naidu8217;s room but recoiled when he saw Swaraj sitting there. He mumbled something about leaving. Swaraj got up hastily and announced that she too was leaving. Naidu, who is known for his sense of humour, couldn8217;t resist taking a dig at the two whose feud is the worst kept secret in the party. Wonders never cease, he exclaimed, Pramod and Sushma are leaving together. His embarrassed colleagues didn8217;t know where to look.

Kapil bats for none

Cricket star Kapil Dev has decided to stay away from politics this timeround. Speculation mounted about a political career for him after the leading role he played in boosting national spirit during the Kargil conflict. He took a group of players to meet the soldiers at the battlefront, he organised the filmstar versus cricket players football match and he led the campaign to stop the Sahara Cup tournament with Pakistan.

In spite of all this activism, however, his friends say he has declined offers from both the Congress and the BJP to contest in the coming elections. He has also refused to campaign for either party or for his politician friends for that matter although last year, he put in an appearance for Pinaki Mishra of the Congress and Chetan Chauhan of the BJP.

Suspended elevation

Officers of the 1967 batch of the IAS are seething with frustration. They were expecting to be empanelled for secretary at the beginning of this year when the government suddenly decided to change the Home Secretary. Since he is a key member of the Committee of Secretaries whichdoes the screening, the empanelment process stopped. Worse, the new Home Secretary decided to go through the entire review exercise again.

Now that elections are round the corner and the model code of conduct is in force, the government has apparently decided to leave the whole thing to its successor. It is after all a crucial exercise for it provides the corpus from which the next batch of Secretaries to the government will be chosen. But for the 1967 batch, all this has meant an eight-month delay and excrutiating suspense for the most important promotion of its career.

Women trouble

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit8217;s announcement that she wants three of the Capital8217;s seven Lok Sabha seats to be given to women nominees has set the cat among the male pigeons in the Congress. There8217;s no dispute about one the Karol Bagh seat. Meira Kumar is the sitting MP and the only Congress candidate who won last year. The question is: which are the other two?

According to the grapevine, the most worriedaspirants are R.K. Dhawan and Jagdish Tytler who fear that Dixit has her eye on their constituencies. She is believed to be plugging for Ambika Sonia for Dhawan8217;s New Delhi seat and a little known teacher for Tytler8217;s Sadar. And it promises to be a battle royale.

Interestingly, Sunil Dutt8217;s name is doing the rounds for the East Delhi seat. His debt of gratitude to Bal Thackeray for helping his TADA-hit son doesn8217;t allow him to stand from Mumbai any more. Which is why the party is thinking of importing him to Delhi.