Old guard vs new

If any Congress member had charged that there was no internal democracy in the party, he would have been unceremoniously evicted for heresy.

If any Congress member had charged that there was no internal democracy in the party, he would have been unceremoniously evicted for heresy. It would have been construed as a direct attack on the Congress first family. But when Rahul Gandhi himself made the accusation, it was a different matter. Many young MPs appended their signatures to a petition echoing Gandhi’s sentiments. Three days later, Gandhi back-tracked slightly by talking only of the need for internal democracy in the party’s youth wings, the Youth Congress and the NSUI, rather than the party as a whole. Gandhi said he had spoken on the need for internal democracy in all parties because wherever he went, young people kept asking him the same question, “We don’t know how to join a party.”

Many feel that the underlying text of Rahul’s statement is that the old guard should make way for the new. Rahul is not happy with several of his mother’s advisers. While the queens courtiers at 10 Janpath are old school politicians, the crown prince’s chosen people at Tuglaq Lane appear more professional yuppie types. In the grooming process for her son, Sonia Gandhi has ensured that trusted old-timers are included in key committees with which Rahul is associated. For instance, Veerappa Moily and Digvijay Singh are in the Committee for Future Challenges, along with young blood.

No poll, biggest saving

The NCP Karnataka unit came up with a curious reason why the elections to the Assembly should be postponed for six months. In order to help the Congress, which is not keen on an early poll, it submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission pointing out that a delay of six months would result in a saving to the exchequer of Rs 25 crore, since each MLA would cost around Rs 3 lakh during that period. The Election Commission dismissed this as a ridiculous argument. By that logic, no elections at all would result in the biggest saving.

Pressing puja

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BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who was recently in Kolkata was invited by the local Press Club to attend a Saraswati puja. Joshi was delighted to participate, but he could not resist pointing out the irony that, when as HRD minister in the Vajpayee government he had presided over a programme at Vigyan Bhavan where there was a short invocation to the goddess Saraswati, there was an uproar in Bengal. The Left Front had protested, claiming it was against our secular tradition. A Bengali scribe was at pains to make it clear that it was not the people of Bengal who had objected, but only the state education minister.

Weighty problem

The difference in weight between Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu is a mere kilogram. The former weighs 70 kgs, the latter 69 kgs. This fact came to light because of the popular practice of thulabharam, in which a leader is weighed against some items, which are then donated to a temple. In the Andhra Pradesh Assembly there was a shouting match between the two parties on the weight issue. The TDP argued that since Naidu was lighter, he was more fit. The Congress countered that Reddy was stronger.

Chance encounter?

Sharad Pawar’s recent meeting with Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray triggered off media speculation about new realignments in Maharashtra’s political parties. But if Pawar is to be believed, his meeting with the Shiv Sena tiger was a chance encounter.

He was driving past Bandra on the way to the airport after a rally, when on the spur of the moment, he decided to call on Thackeray, whom he had not met for several years. Pawar points out that, unlike some other states, there is a healthy tradition in Maharashtra of political leaders maintaining social contact with each other even if they belong to different political parties. The state where contact of any sort with political foes is taboo is Tamil Nadu. DMK and AIDMK MPs do not dare to be seen even talking to each other in faraway Delhi.

Mamata bugged

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When Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Bannerjee was asked for proof that her telephones were bugged, she had a ready explanation. She claimed that the CBI, which was asked to investigate the Nandigram violence, was presented transcripts of all her private conversations by the West Bengal police.

Dominic A LeBlanc, the Minister of Public Safety, said, "The promotion of violence is never acceptable in Canada." (PTI Photo/ File)

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