Neighbour Retaliates

Royal Treatment

Finance Minister Jaswant Singh is very aware of his own consequence and there have been occasional complaints about his brusque behaviour and dismissive ways. But when Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh called on the finance minister some time back the minister accorded him right royal treatment, extending a courtesy which is not accorded even to chief ministers from Singh’s own party. The FM insisted on escorting Amarinder Singh from his South Block Office, through the long corridor and down the stairs. In fact he walked the chief minister right up to his car. Witnessing such graciousness a finance ministry official assumed that the two men must be old friends even if they are in different parties. But a bureaucrat from Amarinder’s camp explained tartly that it was the usual practice when a minor royal like Jaswant Singh greets the scion of a major princely family like Patiala.

Physical Proximity

Since he was a physics student at Allahabad University and Murli Manohar Joshi was his professor, it is generally assumed that the NCERT chief, J S Rajput, is the HRD minister’s man. Actually the combative Rajput has had several mentors, one of whom in fact was former HRD Minister, Arjun Singh, the very antithesis of Joshi. It was Singh who transferred Rajput from Bhopal to Delhi and appointed him to the key position of joint education adviser in the ministry. Rajput was made NCERT chief in 1999 in the interim period when Vajpayee’s Government had been voted out of power.

Last week Rajput felt it necessary to call on L K Advani to explain his position regarding charges of plagiarism in NCERT text books. Joshi is understandably annoyed that Rajput has gone visiting his arch rival in the party. But Rajput’s strength lies in banking on more than just one godfather and he has developed a closeness to a section of the RSS, too.

Gift of the Gab

If Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy were to lose an election, he could well take up an alternative job as a TV compere. Rudy conducted the Indian Airlines’s special lottery draw at the Taj Hotel with aplomb and entertained the audience with his wit and histrionics. After pulling the lucky number from the drum the minister explained apologetically that by a weird coincidence he had picked his own name. There was a stunned and disapproving silence, until the viewers realised belatedly that the minister was pulling their leg.

The winner from three lakh entrants was a scientist working with the defence laboratory in Hyderabad. Rudy conveyed the good news to the scientist on the speaker phone so that the audience could hear his reaction. The lottery winner at first assumed it was a crank call and demanded to know crossly why he was being disturbed while driving in heavy traffic. It took second phone call from Rudy for the realisation of his good fortune to dawn on him. His tone changed completely after the penny dropped that he was talking to a minister and not a prankster. He mumbled repeatedly , ‘‘Yes sir, thank you, sir’’ as Rudy explained that in future he could drive a Rs 52 lakh Mercedes, which was the lottery prize. Rudy reminded the bureaucrat that he had to thank the government for his good fortune since it had paid for his official trip from Calcutta to Hyderabad when he filled out the lottery form. When a government official wins a lottery it’s okay but if politician does it becomes corruption, he joked.

Replacement Problem

The Congress wants Jagdambika Pal, the UPCC chief replaced as his loyalty is suspect. Pal who is extremely close to the UP chief minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav was hoping to join his government and now that he has been thwarted it is feared he might defect along with several other malcontent MLAs. The problem is that it is not easy to find a suitable replacement for Pal. Salman Khursheed is too anti-Mulayam to be acceptable, especially when the Congress has perforce to support Mulayam’s government. New Congress entrant Sanjay Singh has had a checkered background and besides his wife is still a BJP MLA.