Pied piper at 10 Janpath

Journalists who attended Sonia Gandhi’s first media luncheon at 10 Janpath last weekend have only themselves to blame if they went hung...

Journalists who attended Sonia Gandhi’s first media luncheon at 10 Janpath last weekend have only themselves to blame if they went hungry. Sonia’s managers had planned a civilised interaction between Congress beat correspondents and their party president. Tables were laid out on the manicured lawns and two senior Congress leaders were put on duty at each one to keep conversation and food flowing. Sonia was to move from table to table and chat informally with the invited journalists.

But newshounds will be newshounds. Quite oblivious of what they were letting themselves in for, Sonia’s aides had decided to make it an on-record affair. Consequently, correspondents were besides themselves with anxiety not to miss a single sound-byte from Sonia. Soon, much to the chagrin of her advisors who saw their meticulous plans go up in smoke, the Congress president was like the Pied Piper of Hamelin with a crowd of journalists tagging at her heels as she wove her way through the tables. When she finally went indoors and correspondents turned their attention to food, they found there wasn’t much left to eat. The only consolation was their notebooks were full, even if their stomachs weren’t.

Scramble for a ‘safe’ seat

With the casualty rate climbing higher and higher every election, several ministers in the Vajpayee Govt are desperately seeking a change of constituency so as not to suffer a personal anti-incumbency factor. Defence Minister George Fernandes is flitting between Samastipur and his present constituency, Nalanda, in Bihar, trying to see where he stands a better chance.

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Minister of State for Sports Vijay Goel wants to bow out of the Capital’s Chandni Chowk which he’s been nurturing with musical evenings and chaat festivals. He’s eyeing the Sadar Lok Sabha seat, vacated by Madan Lal Khurana when he shifted to Rajasthan as Governor. Textiles Minister Shahnawaaz Hussain is believed to be lobbying to shift from Kishanganj in Bihar to Jaipur in Rajasthan. Minister of State for Home Swami Chinmayanand has asked for permission to switch from Jaunpur to Shahjahanpur in UP. Sports Minister Vikram Verma wants to flee from Dhaar to Uma Bharti’s ex-parliamentary constituency of Bhopal. Clearly, they fear that the feel good factor isn’t working for them.

Jogi faces tough choice

Disgraced former Chhattisgarh CM Ajit Jogi is trying desperately to rehabilitate himself. He’s said to have offered to contest against V C Shukla from Raipur. Shukla recently floated his own party and is being supported by the BJP. Jogi is aware that it’s going to be a tough call for him to fight against the combined might of Shukla and the BJP in the state capital. But he’s calculating that no one else from the Congress will agree to take on this battle. By offering himself as the proverbial sacrificial lamb, he’s hoping to get the Congress to revoke his suspension.

Senior Congress leaders to whom he’s talked, however, are setting certain preconditions. They’ve told him that if he wants to contest for the Lok Sabha, he must first resign his Assembly seat. That’s some choice. If he resigns from the State Assembly and then loses from Raipur, he’ll be out completely.

Wooing Prasad, the Amma way

What’s cooking between Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa? They met for the first time recently at the inauguration of the country’s first community radio channel at Anna University in Chennai. Jayalalithaa apparently took quite a shine to Prasad and wanted to know to which state he belongs.

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Bihar, Prasad said. Oh, Laloo land, she proclaimed. But you speak so well, she added. A blushing Prasad was embarrassed further when she turned to Advani, who was also present, and suggested that the I & B Minister be made the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate for Bihar.

Having won Prasad’s heart with such fulsome praise, Jayalalithaa is now pressing him to sanction a community radio station for her constituency.

CID to probe Zubeen Garg’s death after complaint names his manager, festival organiser

India15 min ago

As Assam awaits the return of its superstar icon Zubeen Garg’s body after he died in Singapore, where he was for the North East India Festival, on Friday, the state government has decided to transfer the investigation to the CID following complaints against festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta and his manager Siddharth Sharma.

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