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Journalism of Courage
It8217;s not just the PMO that8217;s upset with Time magazine8217;s article on Vajpayee8217;s health. There are rumbles in North Block too and L K Advani is believed to be toying with the idea of shooting off a protest of his own to the publishers of the magazine.
His grouse is the manner in which a week-old interview to Time8217;s website was used liberally in the report. Advani camp followers feel it gives the mistaken impression that the home minister was used to provide inputs for the article.
Apparently, Advani didn8217;t have a clue about the bombshell in store when he gave the interview and answered all the questions put to him, including one on Vajpayee8217;s health, in good faith.
The interview appeared on the Time website a week before the story was published. The home minister is said to be upset that there was no reference to context in the article for the remarks attributed to him.
Search for a secy
Even before A P J Abdul Kalam has stepped into Rashtrapati Bhavan, speculation has started about the most likely candidate for Secretary to the President. The post has been lying vacant ever since Gopal Gandhi left to become India8217;s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka two years ago.
It8217;s a crucial appointment because of Kalam8217;s relative inexperience in administrative, political and public affairs.
Although the Government plans to present Kalam with a panel of names, bureaucratic circles feel the odds favour ousted Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary P Shankar for several reasons. He8217;s a Tamilian, he8217;s the right seniority being a 1966 batch IAS officer, he8217;s respected and well liked by those who matter in the Vajpayee dispensation and he8217;s cooling his heels these days after his humiliating brush with Jayalalithaa.
In fact, the Centre is said to be keen to bring him to New Delhi and is on the lookout for a suitable placement although he himself is threatening to take voluntary retirement. If he makes it, he will be following in the footsteps of his brother, P Murari, who ruled the roost in the President8217;s Secretariat during Venkataraman8217;s tenure.
In-house journalists
Ever since it was summoned for a revival meeting at Race Course Road a few weeks ago, the BJP8217;s defunct media cell has been searching for ways to win friends and influence journalists for the Gujarat-hit Vajpayee Government.
Now comes the announcement that PIB accredited mediapersons will get subsidised government housing. Ironically, the scheme was stopped by the Narasimha Rao Government after a storm erupted over landlord journalists living virtually free in sarkari accommodation.
Although the Supreme Court had suggested then that allotment rules for the media be revised, the government quietly buried the scheme. Given the housing squeeze its own employees are facing, it made sense.
Of course, now journalists and babus will again be fighting for accomodation. However, under the new scheme, media entitlement has been downgraded from D-II type to Type IV. And journalists on contract are not eligible. The Government has also introduced a salary ceiling of Rs 20,000 for the applicants.
Been there, done that
The Left nominee for President, Captain Laxmi Sehgal, is not a bolt out of the blue. It seems the Left Front was keen to promote her as Vice President five years ago when the United Front Government was in power.
But it was a trifle too slow. While the Front was still debating the issue, TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, the then Prime Minister I K Gujral and late Congress president Sitaram Kesri struck a deal on Krishan Kant.
And the gender issue never really took off.
Of course, Sehgal is a non-starter but her candidature is threatening to revive the gender debate, especially since India has never had a woman president or vice president.
