Not just reel life

The new Minister of State for Labour, Santosh Gangwar, doesn’t quite know what to make of his new bungalow. Through his years as MoS in the Petroleum Ministry, he continued to live in his MP’s flat on Baba Kharak Singh Marg out of a misplaced sense of social equity. Finally, this year, he threw these scruples out of the window and got himself a bungalow allotted on Teen Murti Marg, next to his boss, Ram Naik. As luck would have it, the day after he was handed formal possession of the sprawling estate, his portfolio was changed, from lofty petroleum to more lowly labour. Was it a sign? Gangwar is taking no chances. He’s shifted into his new house but only after getting a special puja done to remove evil spirits that may be lurking in the compound.

Venkaiah’s woes

One accusation that’s being flung at BJP president Venkaiah Naidu after his recent ‘‘vikas purush-lauh purush’’ controversy is that he talks too much. The RSS top brass is believed to have told him in so many words. So have his friends. And his critics are whispering it behind his back. Unfortunately, Venkaiah seems to be caught in a trap of his own making. After the highly publicised showdown between a television crew and his security guard, who threatened to shoot journalists trying to barge into Venkaiah’s residence, the BJP president has gone overboard trying to be accessible. His current travails appear to be the result of this new open door policy. Venkaiah apparently complained as much to some journalists. If he doesn’t give access to the media, he’s accused of arrogance. And when he does, the press makes a mountain out of a molehill, he grumbled.

Deepening rift

The Congress has its own share of infighting troubles in the States going to polls this November. Party president Sonia Gandhi’s plans for an election-driven reshuffle in her Delhi set-up has run into rough weather because of the unceasing feud between Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Subhash Chopra. Worried by the BSP factor in the Capital, Sonia is keen to install a Dalit as DPCC president and she’s zeroed in on Delhi Assembly Speaker Prem Singh. Chopra and Singh were summoned to 10 Janpath earlier this week and told to swap places. Reluctant as he was, Chopra agreed, realising that he would continue to have clout as Speaker. However, Dikshit has put a spoke in the plans. She’s flatly refused to have Chopra as Speaker. Unfortunately, Singh has already sent in his resignation to the Lt Governor. The High Command is now in a spot and is waiting for the return of political secretary Ahmed Patel, who is in charge of Delhi and enjoys a good rapport with Dikshit.

Pak a Problemistan

The Indian MPs who travelled as part of the Indo-US Parliamentary Forum delegation to Washington recently were tickled to learn that think tanks close to the Bush Administration have coined a new nickname for Pakistan. It’s jokingly referred to as ‘‘Problemistan’’, the MPs were told during their interactions with security and diplomatic experts who feed the decision-makers in the US. Most of the discussions revolved around Indo-Pakistan tensions, with the MPs doing intensive lobbying against cross-border terrorism.