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Journalism of Courage
Information that actress MP Jayaprada received a fee which was ten times that of eminent classical vocalist Pandit Jasraj at the Lucknow Mahatsov is suspected to have been leaked to the media by an MLA from her own party who is unhappy that the actress from Andhra is poaching on his territory.
Since even a current Bollywood crowdpuller like Mallika Sherawat receives only around Rs 20 lakhs per show, Jaya is at pains to make clear that the Rs 35 lakhs she pocketed for her dance performance included the fees for her troupe of 100 people as well as the costs for lighting and stage props. She says she personally only earned a mere Rs 7 lakhs, which is peanuts for a Bollywood star of her stature. ‘‘Thanks to the grace of God I am a Bollywood actress and people come to see me. I had to take a big cut in my fees for the function.’’
Special exit policy
There was a bomb scare last week in Delhi’s Sanskriti school, where the children of many VIPs study. A bomb disposal squad and a large contingent of policemen were rushed post haste to the school in Chanakyapuri and the children were evacuated to an open field.
Many of the anxious parents who came to collect their wards were taken aback to find that they had to wait as the VIP children had to be sent home first. The order of releasing the children from the school seems to have been related to the security ranking of their parents. Omar Abdullah’s children, Shivraj Patil’s grandchildren and S D Sharma’s great granddaughter were among the first to be let out. The second batch of VIP kids included the offspring of Jyotiraditya Scindia and Rajiv Pratap Rudy. Children of the aam janata had to wait their turn for quite awhile.
Home Finance scheme
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is keen on former RBI Governor Dr C Rangarajan being nominated to the Rajya Sabha in the eminent persons category, since four nominated MPs will be retiring at the end of the session. Rangarajan presently chairs the Economic Advisory Council and has the rank of a Cabinet minister. There seems little point in bringing him to the Rajya Sabha unless the PM has in mind a more ambitious plan for him.
Hence the speculation that Rangarajan may be appointed finance minister. If the appointment takes place in the Cabinet reshuffle expected after this Parliament session, it would trigger off musical chairs among senior ministers. Finance Minister P Chidambaram, in whom the PM also reposes great trust, could then be moved to the Home Ministry since he has worked earlier as MoS in the Home Ministry in Rajiv Gandhi’s government and had dealt with internal security. Shivraj Patil could be accommodated in the defence ministry and Pranab Mukherjee moved to external affairs.
Wrong gate
Communication Minister Dayanidhi Maran pleaded with Bill Gates that he should call on DMK boss M Karunanidhi when he visited Chennai. ‘‘Why, what can I do for him?’’ the billionaire software genius asked perplexed. Maran explained that Karunanidhi was his grandfather (actually granduncle) and the politics of Tamil Nadu was such that if he visited Chief Minister Jayalalitha then he had to show the same courtesy to Karunanidhi. Gates was not convinced and agreed to spare only ten minutes for meeting the DMK leader since he had a busy schedule.
The time-conscious American kept to his word about the time limit. Within minutes of greeting the DMK boss, he excused himself pleading another engagement. Mediapersons were keen to know what Karunanidhi had discussed with Gates. Karunanidhi said Gates had asked him to fund his campaign to fight HIV and AIDS. The pro-AIADMK channel, Jaya TV, mischievously telecast Karunanidhi’s remarks repeatedly throughout the day. The channel clearly wanted to emphasise that the world’s richest man would not have tapped the DMK boss for funds unless he felt that Karunanidhi had very deep pockets.
Unwinding, but no wind up
The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee has started screening Hindi films every week in its Lucknow office for the benefit of its cadres. Cynics wonder why the party needs to bother providing entertainment and relaxation for its party workers considering they do very little work in the first place. The Congress’s sliding popularity graph is indicative of the inertia in the state unit. In the recent bypolls to the two UP Assembly seats, the Congress vote percentage was down to a miserable three per cent. State unit president Salamn Khursheed spends most of the week in various courts in Delhi and travels to UP only over the weekend, and even then confines himself to touring those areas which are close to the Capital.
Khursheed is keen to generate some enthusiasm in the rank and file by getting its star campaigner Rahul Gandhi to tour the state. However, the general secretary in charge of UP, Satyavrath Chaturvedi, feels it is too early to fritter away the Congress’s last effective weapon in UP and believes that far more work needs to be done first at the ground level.
Backing winning horse
The Assembly elections in UP are due in 2006. Those with an ear to the ground have already sensed that the winner is going to be Mayawati judging by the BSP’s performance in the recent bypolls and the panchayat elections. There is a long line of visitors at Behenji’s residence at Humayun Road every morning, and this includes some bureaucrats and industrialists who are closely associated with Mulayam’s regime. Some days ago, a surprise visitor was a leading sugar baron from the state. The factotum of an industrial house which has benefitted substantially from Mulayam’s government was also spotted at Mayawati’s bungalow.
