Remote control son

Jaggan Reddy, son of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S.R. Reddy, may not reside in the state, but he is accused of running...

Jaggan Reddy, son of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S.R. Reddy, may not reside in the state, but he is accused of running the government by remote control sitting in Bangalore. Telugu Desam Party leader Chandrababu Naidu describes Jaggan as an extra-constitutional authority responsible for practically running the administration, including deciding on postings and transfers. He points out that Jaggan8217;s fledgling business empire has expanded enormously to include cement and steel industries. Last month, the state government allotted him 600 acres in Cuddapah.

Jaggan is the chief minister8217;s Achilles8217; heel, the target of not just the Opposition but also Reddy8217;s detractors in the Congress party. A secret meeting of Congress MPs from Andhra Pradesh is scheduled in Delhi early this month and a memorandum is to be prepared for Sonia Gandhi. The MPs suspect that, due to his friendship with YSR, Digvijay Singh, who is in charge of the state, never bothers to forward complaints against the chief minister to the party president.

Bedside manners

Relations between Chandra Shekhar and V.P. Singh have been cool ever since Shekhar conspired with the Congress to bring down Singh8217;s government and become prime minister himself in 1990. Last week, both men were in adjacent rooms at Delhi8217;s Apollo Hospital, and had many common visitors, including Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Old animosities seem to have been temporarily forgotten.

SP introspecting

Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav has been visiting his party office in Lucknow daily to talk to party candidates, both victorious and defeated, and figure out the reason for the SP8217;s stunning defeat. Many party workers point an accusing finger at Amar Singh. Even the psephologist who painted a rosy picture predicting that the SP would win around 180 seats was a Singh protege, they point out.

Meanwhile, Amar Singh8217;s best friend in the film industry, Amitabh Bachchan, finds himself slightly isolated of late. He wanted to take his new daughter-in-law and son on a world tour with music and dance performances, but none of the major Bollywood stars was willing to be part of the troupe. Karan Johar is planning to produce a film with Abhishek and Aishwarya in the lead, though his partner Shahrukh Khan has made it clear that the film will be only under Johar8217;s personal banner of Dharma Productions and not Johar and Shahrukh8217;s joint production company.

Spirited campaign

With only 10 lakh voters in some 40 constituencies for the Goa Assembly, monitoring the elections should be a piece of cake for the Election Commission after Uttar Pradesh, which was a massive exercise spread over seven phases. But because of the small numbers, each Goan voter is being actively wooed by rival candidates, often with incentives such as liquor, motorcycles, dance parties, watches, sewing machines and even hard cash. The Election Commission has its hand full. Last month, 80,000 extra crates of liquors were purchased over Goa8217;s monthly average of 2.4 lakh crates. It is assumed the extra spirits are for luring voters. At the instance of the Election Commission, the excise department now insists on receipts with the names and addresses for all alcohol sales. Recently the Election Commission confiscated Rs 21 lakh, which a candidate had been doling out to a trustee of a temple in installments of Rs 49,000 a day in the hope that the temple would sway voters in his favour.

14 nights, 15 days

No sooner did the Parliament session end than a host of Central ministers went abroad on official trips on one pretext or another. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could not stop the summer exodus although he has introduced a rule that stipulates that no minister should stay abroad for more than 14 nights and 15 days on official business. The Administrative Reforms Committee had suggested not more than four nights and five days. A minister from Maharashtra has not merely flouted the rule recently, but has often availed himself of the hospitality of unauthorised persons.