Saffron Overkill

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit who found herself in the dining hall during the speeches took her downgradation in her stride.

Not To B Friends

To Be or Not To Be, the coffee table publication published by Jaya Bachchan to mark Amitabh Bachchan8217;s 60th birthday, reconfirms what political insiders have long suspected: relations between the Bachchans and the Gandhis are now rather strained.

Asked by film critic Khalid Mohammed about the Gandhis in his 10,000 word interview, Bachchan waxes eloquent about his childhood friend Rajiv and says he misses him, but there is little mention of Sonia Gandhi, who lived with the Bachchans in Delhi before her marriage.

The Big B is tepid when asked whether he still keeps in touch with the Gandhis. The cause of the break is a mystery, but friends from both sides say that the cooling off came about around the time of Priyanka and Shweta8217;s weddings, even though for appearances sake, Bachchan was one of the very few invited to Priyanka8217;s wedding ceremony.

After Soli, Who?

With Soli Sorabjee completing his five-year term as attorney general in May, changes in the government8217;s panel of senior law officers are on the cards. But the government is still pondering over the decision. Prime Minister Vajpayee would like Sorabjee to continue, at least until an appropriate alternative position is found for him, such as an ambassadorship.

Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, however, would like Sorabjee to step down because of his differing stand from the government in the minorities matter in the Supreme Court. Solicitor General Harish Salve, who has represented the government in some high profile cases, feels he is entitled to the Attorney General8217;s job and if he doesn8217;t get it, he plans to return to his flourishing law practice.

Either way the post of Solicitor General should soon be vacant and the likely candidate to fill the slot is Additional Solicitor General Kirit Rawal.

Tea Junction

Before the Planning Commission8217;s full meeting, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission K C Pant met Finance Minister Jaswant Singh and a few senior officers for a briefing. During Pant8217;s longwinded presentation, Singh kept instructing the waiters how to serve the tea and coffee and cautioning them about their posture and splashing tea on the carpet.

Peeved that Singh was not paying full attention, Pant suggested coldly to the finance minister that maybe tea could be served later.

Babus In The Way

The Central Government often lectures state governments about financial profligacy, but the roles were reversed at the state finance ministers conference last month. The state ministers held the Centre responsible for setting a bad example by sharply increasing the benefits to government employees after the Pay Commission in 1997.

Since around 75 of the states budget goes towards paying salaries, the states feel that the Centre should cut back on the perks it provides the babus so that they too can follow suit. Proposals to lower the retirement age back to 58 for government employees, freeze DA for two years and reduce the computation of pension for central government employees is to come before the Cabinet meeting on October 18. But it remains to be seen whether the Vajpayee government will have the will to take on the babus.

No Mamta In Samata

George Fernandes may be president of the Samata Party on paper, but it is Railway Minister Nitish Kumar who calls the shots. Anyone who crosses Nitish is crushed ruthlessly as three-time MP from Munger, Brahmananda Mandal, discovered to his cost.

Mandal dared to question how the crucial decisions in the party were taken unilaterally by Nitish, who does not even hold an official post. Last month Nitish attended a railway function at Munger and deliberately excluded his party MP from the list of invitees. When Mandal wrote to the PM protesting that it is mandatory for the local MP to be called for such functions, Nitish promptly suspended Mandal from the party. To compound Mandal8217;s humiliation a railway checking inspector arrested Mandal on the Brahmaputra Express claiming that he had misbehaved with him. Considering that Mandal has a train pass, there was no cause for him to pick a quarrel with the railway staff.

A defiant Mandal now plans to write to Fernandes demanding to know why action is not taken against Nitish for indiscipline. He cites an earlier interview in The Indian Express where Nitish had belittled the party president.