Plenary Pickings

Narasimha Rao8217;s departure from the city today was as quiet as his entrance on Thursday. The former prime minister slipped out of Netaji Indoor Stadium this afternoon, unannounced and almost unaccompanied, without casting his vote in the Congress Working Committee polls that were to begin shortly.

He took a scheduled Indian Airlines flight to Delhi. Among his co-passengers was Sonia Gandhi. Sonia, on the way to the airport, stopped by at Mother Teresa8217;s home for the destitute and spent some ten minutes with the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Among Rao8217;s co-passengers on the flight into the city on Thursday was his former minister Satish Sharma. An eyewitness today recounted that Sharma looked through his former boss throughout the flight. And Sharma was not alone in this. 8220;Not once did anyone go up to Rao to say hello8217;,8221; she said.n AFTER two days of predominently North Indian fare, the community dining room at Netaji Indoor Stadium had a touch of the south. Tricoloured idlis made their appearance, much to the delight of the South Indian delegates at the plenary, and vanished just as quickly as they arrived. 8220;It is a little odd having to eat saffron-white-green idlis, but it is better than rubber-like chappatis,8221; observed A V Selvapandian, a Congressman from Tirunelveli in southern Tamil Nadu.