Simply himself

Dark horse grounds high-fliers

Several high flyers in the senior civil service were in the running for the much coveted post of Executive Director to the World Bank, including Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi, Expenditure Secretary Adarsh Kishore and Economic Affairs Secretary Ashok Jha. But it is a dark horse, Secretary, Defence Production, Dhanendra Kumar, with no experience in an economic ministry, who has walked away with the plum assignment. Dhanendra Kumar, a Haryana cadre officer who had once been Bhajan Lal’s principal secretary, got the job because Lal is believed to have spoken to Sonia Gandhi on his behalf.

Name calling card

The BJP’s attitude towards Varun Gandhi is ambivalent. On the one hand it is keen to cash in on his ability to attract crowds thanks to his illustrious surname, on the other after a lifetime of dynasty-bashing it wants to make clear that Varun should not be shown special favours because of his name. Every time the proposal to make Varun a general secretary is put forward, other general secretaries are quick to shoot it down claiming that he is much too junior. And while the BJP used Varun extensively for the campaign in Maharashtra, the party seems keen to make the point that it can win without the Gandhi charisma in Bihar.

Uniform agenda

The presence of CISF guards with AK-56 guns on the first floor of North Block Secretariat outside the Finance Ministry has caused quite a stir. The armed guards who arrived at the start of the month are believed to be part of the Budget preparation drill. A few conservative bureaucrats felt it was inappropriate that they had positioned themselves just next to the statue of Lord Nataraja. As a concession to such sentiments, the guards are now at the same spot but in plain clothes, not in uniform.

Financial home truths

At a recent meeting of Home Minister Shivraj Patil with BSF officials to discuss border fencing, a DIG complained that the Finance Ministry had refused to hike the budget of border fencing from Rs 150 crore to Rs 270 crore as requested by the BSF. Reacting sharply, Patil fumed that the Finance Ministry had no concept of internal security matters. He proclaimed that if the Finance Ministry did not sanction the amount, he would do so himself.

The officials present were taken aback by the minister’s sweeping assurance considering that he has no power to sanction the money.

Jaya opens window

Jayalalithaa, who slammed the door shut on the BJP after her differences with the party over the Shankaracharya’s arrest, has recently opened a small window to the saffron party. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister sent a letter to the former I&B Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wishing him a speedy recovery after he was shot at in Bihar. She put out a press statement condemning the attack and ordered her minions in Delhi to call on him.

With the enigmatic Jaya, however, it is hard to say whether her gesture of friendship was for the BJP as a whole or just for Prasad. After all Prasad as minister had overruled objections to grant Jaya TV a licence.

Left’s bourgeois opportunism

The Left may have rejoined the UPA’s co-ordination committee but there is a breakdown of trust with the Manmohan Singh Government discovering a streak bourgeois opportunism in one who was expected to be a dependable ally. The Congress is particularly irked with the CPI(M) for hobnobbing with the SP.

The CPI(M), with Harkishen Singh Surjeet as general secretary, had diplomatically distanced itself from Amar Singh last year when Sonia Gandhi made it clear that this was one party she would have no truck with despite its impressive strength of 40 MPs. But after Karat became general secretary this April there has been a change in attitude.

Karat even went to Lucknow to meet Mulayam Singh. And the

SP was invited to the recent Left meet to rally support against the Congress’s Iran policy. Another malcontent invited to the meet was Deve Gowda.