Presidential shuttle

Small wonder that the Air Force8217;s VIP squadron of two Boeings, a Rajdoot and Rajhans, plus eight helicopters is inadequate for the needs of the four VIPs8212;the PM, DPM, President and Vice-President8212;who are entitled to the facility. Which is why two more aircraft have been ordered.

Wrestling for a slot

Distinguished economist Bimal Jalan, one of the newly nominated parliamentarians in the Rajya Sabha, was keen to make a contribution as a member of the HRD Parliamentary Consultative Committee. But his request for a place on the committee was denied by the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, which felt that another first-time MP, actor-wrestler Dara Singh, had a greater claim because of his akhara background!

Probing investigators

With CBI Director P.C. Sharma due to retire in November, the process of appointing his successor has begun. The omission of the Personnel Secretary from the appointment committee has raised eyebrows since normally he is always included in the selection process. Another intriguing question is whether the CBI8217;s overzealous investigations against Mayawati are because Sharma is following in the footsteps of Joginder Singh, who just prior to his retirement relentlessly pursued the case against Sitaram Kesri on his own steam, leading to the downfall of the H.D. Deve Gowda government. Or is Sharma acting under political orders, as Mayawati believes?

Incidentally, another former CBI director, R.K. Raghavan, was recently appointed a consultant to the Tata group. The Government gave its clearance since Raghavan had been retired for two years when he took up his private-sector job. However a rival business house has been quibbling that the permission should be revoked since Raghavan was on the panel of the parliamentary committees investigating share scams.

Sparkling jogger

The Who8217;s Who of the political world, from Prime Minister Vajpayee to Sonia Gandhi, attended the wedding reception of L.K. Advani8217;s son Jayant last week, as did many other well-known personalities from Anil Ambani to Nusli Wadia. But curiously the guest who attracted the most attention, with waiters and young girls crowding around asking her for autographs, was Perizad Zorabian, a little-known model-cum-starlet with a tongue-twister of a name. Perizad, who has acted in just two movies, knew instinctively how to gracefully grab centrestage in a cast of over a thousand, which included many of the Capital8217;s heavyweights.

Arriving at the function more than fashionably late, the profusely apologetic actress was greeted with an affectionate hug by the bridegroom8217;s mother Kamala. The Advanis took a shine to the bubbly actress after watching a special screening of her movie Joggers Park, which was released in the Capital last month. At the show, the DPM, a film buff since his days as a movie critic for Organiser, asked Perizad whether it was her first movie. The actress wailed good humouredly, 8216;8216;Do I look so amateurish that it shows!8217;8217;

Even wedding guests who had no clue as to who Perizad was were struck by the vivacious girl in a blue lehnga, sporting a stunning diamond necklace. As the model for a leading diamond jewellery store, the actress gets to showcase their gems.

Storming his citadel

After a successful career in the police force, former Delhi Police commissioner Nikhil Kumar joined the Congress two months back. Despite being a rookie in politics, Kumar has not one but two constituencies to chose from. Kumar8217;s family has had links with the Aurangabad constituency ever since his paternal grandfather, Dr Anugrah Narayan Singh, marched besides Gandhi during the Champaran agitation. Kumar8217;s father, the late Satya Narayan Sinha, represented the constituency six times and now his wife, Shama Sinha, is an MP from the region.

From his maternal side, Kumar has equally strong ties with Vaishali. His maternal grandfather, Rameshwar Prasad Singh, was the MLA from here way back in 1948 and his mother, Kishori Singh, has won the Vaishali parliamentary seat twice. Once as a Janata Party candidate in 1980, when the party was completely routed throughout the country.

But Laloo Prasad Yadav remains hopeful that the RJD can capture this Thakur citadel in the next election. He believes that with the recent delimitation of the Aurangabad constituency, when a portion from Jharkhand was included, the constituency is no longer a safe bet for the family.

Churlish manners

It is one thing for Minister for External Affairs Yashwant Sinha to take a strong line against Pakistan in an interview to BBC. But should he have dispensed with the courtesy of prefixing names properly by referring to Pakistan8217;s head of state simply as Musharraf.