Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy would no doubt like to inform the folks back in Bihar that he is going places in New Delhi. Perhaps that is why he instructed the Airports Authority of India, which participated in the recent Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan, to set up its stall right in the middle of the Bihar pavilion. The problem is that the AAI literature and display boards had nothing in common with the Madhubani paintings and tussar silks of Bihar. The state cannot even boast of a single A grade airport! Stage door entrance The cream of Delhi society and the entire diplomatic corps was at the Siri Fort auditorium last week to watch the opera The Barber of Seville performed by a leading Italian opera house. The distinguished audience had to wait as the chief guest, ICCR chairman Najma Heptullah, arrived half an hour after the show was scheduled to start. Heptullah’s late entrance was very visible since for some reason she was ushered into the hall from the stage. Even the programmes for the performance did not arrive on time. The staff of the ICCR, which hosted the function together with the Italian Embassy, ripped open huge parcels of programmes on the stage itself to the amazement of not just the impatient audience but the orchestra in the pit. Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal raised diplomatic eyebrows further by entering the hall while the tenor was in the middle of an aria. The convention at musical concerts is that the doors remain shut until the ongoing act concludes so as not to disturb the listeners. But the organisers could hardly afford to allow Sibal to be locked out considering that the ICCR is run by the Ministry of External Affairs! Taken for granted Laloo Yadav is miffed with the Congress and grumbles privately that the Congress takes his support for granted even though he is the party’s only true ally. Laloo had agreed to campaign for the Congress in Delhi and with some 10 per cent of the voters from Bihar his endorsement would prove very beneficial to the Congress. As a quid pro quo Laloo wanted the Congress to leave two assembly seats to the RJD. After negotiations with the party central leadership it was agreed that the Badli assembly seat would be reserved for the RJD’s Delhi chief Raj Singh Mann. But on the last day of the nominations, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit sprang a surprise and allotted the Badli seat to businessman Dharamvir Yadav whose only claim to fame is that he had more assets to declare, including 40 cars, than any other candidate from the Capital. Hurt by the betrayal, the RJD hastily fielded candidates in seven constituencies and Laloo has addressed rallies in their favour. He has also decided not to campaign for any Congress candidate in the Capital. Re-thinking on front Many, including this columnist, had predicted that Murasoli Maran’s death would mark the end of the DMK ties with the NDA. But there seems to be a re-think on both sides. Prime Minister Vajpayee, who flew down to Chennai for Maran’s funeral, considers DMK leader M Karunanidhi a trusted friend of many years and he feels more comfortable with him than the ever erratic Jayalalithaa who brought down his government in 1998. Karunanidhi, meanwhile, now realises that his allies in the state from Vaiko to the PMK and MDMK do not want to switch from the BJP to the Congress. But while Vajpayee wants to continue the alliance, the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit would prefer to join forces with Jayalalithaa who is the bigger vote puller. DPM Advani would also rather opt for Jaya. Last week, Advani met the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister in Chennai where he was the chief guest at a conference on e-governance. Single Sonia focus The Congress posters for the forthcoming assembly polls display photographs only of Sonia Gandhi and not other family members. Priyanka Gandhi who is an enthusiastic amateur photographer helped to shoot pictures of her mother for the campaign material but did not focus on herself, which has disappointed many Congress candidates who had sent requests to the party office for pictures of Sonia with her two children. Those who wanted to cash in on Priyanka’s image have to make do with old pictures taken several years back when Sonia visited the Amethi constituency with both her son and daughter. Why the extension Lalji Tandon is upset with the Central Government for agreeing to extend retiring UP Chief Secretary A P Singh’s tenure by three months more, even though he has a vigilance inquiry against him. Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav needed the extension for Singh since he is the brain behind the scheme for leasing out UP’s two dozen state-owned sugar mills. Singh drafted the lease deed which is weighed heavily in favour of the lessee rather than the state government. The lease even permits the lessee to mortgage the mill or secure bank loans on the basis of the leased property. Former Planning Secretary Aneez Ansari refused to approve the draft since he feared that some day he might meet the same fate as the officials who cleared the Taj corridor project. Predictably, Ansari was transferred overnight and a promotee officer appointed in his place who signed the file without quibbling.
