Soz who, asks Congress

JUST as Narendra Modi was thundering about the government having to choose between Medha Patkar and mega watts, lights went off at the crowded post-Narmada committee meeting press conference venue. And when as Modi was saying the country would be deprived of 1,450 MW of power, the lights came back.

What about us, Rashtrapatiji?

Mashobra, may people know, is breathtakingly beautiful and just ahead of Shimla. They also know that getting to Mashobra is tough. What they don8217;t know is that there8217;s an easy solution 8212; the lone helipad in the place is an old Rashtrapati Bhavan property and remains unused for most part of the year. For years now, a request is pending that other choppers be allowed to use the helipad so that people can visit Mashobra easily. The local economy can do with the business that tourism will bring in, and tourists can have easy access. The state government is all for it. But the Rashtrapati Bhavan bureaucracy isn8217;t budging. Sure, when the President makes a trip to Mashobra, the helipad can be closed for regular traffic. But what about when the Rashtrapati isn8217;t visiting? Other VIPs use the helipad, why can8217;t revenue-generating tourists? Viceroys have left but viceregal attitudes haven8217;t.

Air head

It wasn8217;t quite a breath of fresh air as far as the debate on Naxal violence

went. When Arjun Munda, CM, Jharkhand, told the conference of Naxal violence-affected states that his state will only get oxygen, there was general perplexity. Munda8217;s explanation didn8217;t make things better. He said, coal PSUs take over villages for mining and villagers settle in forests. Since trees can8217;t be cut down, his government can8217;t provide infrastructure to those resettled in forests. So, while Jharkhand8217;s coal gives power to the country, and the forests give cover to Naxalites, the state government only gets oxygen that comes from the forest cover. Good thing this was said at the closed door session of the conference. Explaining this to the media would have been tough.

Minister8217;s home, secretary8217;s house

ONE thing about being a governor 8212; you don8217;t have to worry about finding a house. Sushilkumar Shinde may have missed politics when he was Andhra Pradesh Governor, but he did have a fine place in Hyderabad he could call home. As cabinet minister in Delhi, Shinde first put up in the AP state guesthouse. Now, he8217;s shifted to another guesthouse 8212; that of the Bhakra Beas Management Board. Worse, his secretary lives in grander style than he does. In the government8217;s complicated housing nomenclature, the power minister8217;s accommodation, at Kaka Nagar, is category D II, sub-category V A. The power secretary, RV Shahi, lives across the road in Bapa Nagar, in an apartment that is C I, VI B. Translation: the secretary8217;s house is much bigger, and distinctly nicer. It is anyone8217;s guess who8217;s more discomfited by the anomaly: the minister or his secretary.

Journeyman

So, you thought BJP leaders travel in fine comfort when they set out for their yatras? Never say this to Rajnath Singh. The bullet-proof vehicle carrying Singh has a maximum speed of 40 kmph. The AC is more dysfunctional than, say, the BJP8217;s strategy for the Rae Bareli by-election. The engine is like Vajpayee-Advani relations 8212; it has a problem every alternate day. And 8212; forgive us for saying this, but it8217;s a fact 8212; whoever designed the small WC in the vehicle was indifferent to managing olfactory fallouts from using the facility. To top it all, Rajnath has a rexine seat. The other BJP person on a yatra, as has been reported, is travelling in considerable comfort.

Caught in a web

Does FICCI know this? The web site indiabusiness.nic.in is a JV between FICCI8217;s IT department and the MEA8217;s investment promotion division. MEA has decided the site, although useful, is not exactly cutting edge in terms of design. So, it invited bids to revamp and maintain the site. Typical government planning, however, ensured that while the MEA had given a five-day response time, three of those days were government holidays. That meant two days to settle the whole thing. So, the first interesting question is how successful MEA8217;s efforts were. The second one is how FICCI feels at being shut out of a venture it was managing till the other day.

It ain8217;t EC

Make a virtue out of necessity. Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi is super-busy with elections in home state Kerala. Ministerial work is naturally not priority. But Ravi has a different take. I can announce any number of policy decisions, he says, but I am not doing so because the EC may think I am influencing people before polls. Since plenty of NRIs call Kerala home, says Ravi, he has no choice but to wait till polls end. This would have been a little more convincing had Ravi not cancelled his trip to Doha. The EC has no objections to ministers8217; official trips. And Doha was to be Ravi8217;s first overseas visit since becoming minister. When does a minister forego a foreign trip? When politics is at a sharp end at home.

The King and us

It8217;s never black and white in diplomacy. India wants King Gyanendra to return Nepal to democracy. But since as part of its decision it has stopped supplying weapons and other heavy military equipment to Nepal, the Army fears China may step in to the breach. The Army has petitioned the Defence Ministry six times that hardware supplies be resumed. Pranab Mukherjee has apparently supported the contention at the Cabinet Committee on Security meetings. But the government is so far so reluctant. With the King sounding like he8217;s called for elections, the Army has renewed its appeal. Waiting to be delivered to the Nepalese army are assault rifles, ammo, jeeps and helicopters.

Enter Romesh Bhandari?

If you happen to be at the India International Centre on a Monday, you may hear smatterings of a discussion on 8216;8216;contemporary issues8217;8217; and smell the powerful odour of ambition. Romesh Bhandari, out in the cold since 1998, when he quit as UP governor after redefining what gubernatorial independence means, has spotted an opportunity. Natwar Singh is out and Karan Singh is down, and can8217;t he, therefore, fill the post reserved for influential ex-diplomat Congressmen? To that end,

Bhandari has persuaded Sonia Gandhi and the PM that a Monday Club in IIC is a wonderful way to thrash out some of the deep questions facing the nation today. Today a club convener tomorrow a minister or an ambassador 8212; that8217;s Bhandari8217;s plan and he8217;s enthused by the fact that he was called for the PM8217;s lunch in honour of Bush. What Mrs Bhandari and Mrs Natwar Singh feel about this is another thing 8212; the wives are related but Natwar had always kept Romesh out of core Congress confabulations on foreign policy.

Still too hot

Russians would never have allowed American air force pilots to fly their spy planes during the Cold War. They won8217;t allow it now. But, and so Americans had hoped, since India flies Russian planes and since India and America are on a strategic honeymoon, maybe they8217;ll get a chance to fly those machines that had entered Cold War folklore. No such luck. During the Kalaikunda Indo-US joint exercise, the American defence attache, Col Steven Sboto, brought two young USAF pilots to the highly guarded IAF base at Bareilly. Both aces were hoping for a spin in the MiG-25 Foxbat that had kept American aero engineers on their toes in the Cold War years. Permissions were requested, faxes sent, phone calls made, but the request was turned down. The American pilots had to be satisfied with photos of their posing next to the Foxbats. The IAF, however, allowed them spins in Russian-made Sukhoi-30Ks.