Missing CV

Tactical retreat

Health Minister Sushma Swaraj flew down to Geneva with her team to canvass for the post of vice-chairperson of the Global Fund against Aids, malaria and TB, since she had been nominated for the slot by China. The Indian side campaigned vigorously and Swaraj seemed to have the post all sewn up. Especially since the only other contender was the head of an NGO Helene, Rossert-Blavier, who according to convention should not have been a candidate at all since she is from a developed nation as is also the Fund chairman. But suddenly without any real explanation Swaraj withdrew her candidature and left for home.

In New Delhi health ministry officials claim piously that the minister backed out on moral principles since the rules called for consensus not a contest. But India’s supporters, which included key countries like Canada, Nigeria, South Africa, USA and many European Union, feel let down and are not willing to buy this Gandhian explanation. They point out India knew about the contest all along and the high-minded talk perhaps simply covers a tactical move to make a bid for the post of chairperson in another six months.

Sons all set

Politicians fielding their offspring for electoral office is common. But the way things are going the 14th Lok Sabha may well establish a record of sorts for the number of parent and son teams in Parliament. If they all win the elections, as seems quite likely, we will see Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Singh, Jaswant Singh and Manvender Singh and Murli Deora and Milind Deora in Parliament together. Yet another likely father and son duo will be Ajit Singh and Jayant who will probably be fielded either from Mathura or Baghpat by his father.

Southern star in north poll

Unlike film star MPs like Dilip Kumar and Rajesh Khanna, Jayaprada was a conscientious member of the Rajya Sabha. She listened to debates in the House, participated in parliamentary committees and interacted with the media and fellow MPs. That may have been her undoing. TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu likes his party members to be anonymous and prefers to be the only star in the party. When Jaya’s term as MP ended, Naidu did not re-nominate her.

At one stage it looked as if Jaya might join the BJP, but to everyone’s surprise she has settled for the Samajwadi Party instead. It is through the good offices of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s man for all reasons Amar Singh, that the South Indian film star has been made the SP candidate in the Rampur constituency in UP. Jayaprada is a former heroine of Amitabh Bachchan and it was the super star who introduced her to Singh. That first real hint that Jayaprada had a soft corner for the SP came when she turned up at Mulayam’s swearing in ceremony along with Singh’s gang of Mumbai businessmen.

Load problem

Reports of L K Advani’s rath occasionally packing up has fuelled speculation that the DPM might be contemplating replacing the Swaraj Mazda bus loaned to him by Chhattisgarh’s flamboyant Dilip Singh Judeo with one from Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s stable of vehicles. A member of Advani’s caravan dismisses talk of the rath’s unreliability as highly exaggerated. The problem, he explains, is simply electrical malfunctioning and over loading. The rath does not pick up speed because of overloading. Which is why the number of permanent occupants of the bus has been cut down from 10 to five. The electrically operated public address system conks out once in a while as happened recently at a rally in Maharashtra. Advani has at times had to transfer to another car because of the breakdown of the air conditioning. Every few nights the van is sent to a workshop for extensive repairs.

Before dispatching his rath to Advani, Judeo had boasted that he had checked the vehicle’s horoscope and redone the interiors to ensure that they conformed to vaastu regulations. For the kundli puja he had broken 101 coconuts. Judeo’s method of cracking coconuts was to crush them under the Mazda’s wheels. Such punishing treatment would surely have damaged the rath’s springs and tyres.