Starry wars

Akbar Road is one of the most gracious avenues of Lutyen8217;s Delhi. However, the peace of the tranquil neighborhood, with its colonial bungalows and large lawns, is frequently disturbed by the noise emanating from Bungalow No 24, the headquarters of the Congress party. Ticket-seekers, hangers-on, demonstrators gather there and spill on to the roads. They park their cars wherever they can. Now, the neighbours have an even bigger grouse. The municipal authorities have started dismantling the 20-foot wide grassy sidewalk to make way for a parking lot. All for the convenience of a political party?

Speaking for Singh

Apart from the official media spokespersons, it is common practice in the BJP for senior leaders to retain an unofficial spokesperson who conveys his bosses8217; viewpoint to select journalists. For instance, Rajnath Singh, who does not unwind easily with the media, has appointed a college lecturer from his inner coterie for the job. When Singh was agriculture minister in the Vajpayee government, the unofficial spokesperson moved from Lucknow to Delhi and joined his ministry. Now that Singh is BJP president , the same gentleman has been given office space at the party headquarters at 11 Ashoka Road.

The unofficial spokesperson has been active in conveying his master8217;s viewpoint on the recent organisational changes in the party, which has caused much heartburn. He has gone out of his way to confirm that the re-organisation was a snub to Singh8217;s rivals Arun Jaitley and Narendra Modi, and that the RSS leadership was kept in the picture. However, since Singh was appointed specifically with the agenda of ending factionalism in the BJP, it was expected that the spokesperson would try to smooth over differences with rival groups rather than ruffle more feathers.

Hats off!

The army chief8217;s wife throws a garden party annually, which is attended not just by officers8217; wives but also the Who8217;s Who of women in Delhi. The theme this year was 8220;Carnival8221;. One of the VIP invitees who entered very sportingly into the spirit of the occasion was Gursharan Kaur. The prime minister8217;s wife moved gracefully on to the dance floor sporting a billowing carnival hat presented by one of the organisers.

Quote, misquote

Media reports suggesting that the organisers of the recent Satyagraha centenary conference in Delhi goofed up so badly that Sonia Gandhi had to pull them up for making former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda travel in a bus like an ordinary delegate are without foundation. In fact, Kaunda was provided a Mercedes for his stay in New Delhi and former DUSU president Ragini Naik was designated as his escort.

When Sonia Gandhi was seeing off delegates after the inaugural session at Vigyan Bhavan, she turned to the chief organiser Anand Sharma and inquired if Kaunda would be able to reach Hyderabad House 8212; where lunch was being hosted 8212; in time since ordinary cars were not being allowed at the Vigyan Bhavan VVIP gate. Sharma had then asked Kaunda to travel in his own limousine.

A senior Congress worker misheard the conversation and gave a totally different spin of the incident to newspersons. The idea was to show up Sharma in a poor light, what with some Congress activists being aggrieved that they were kept out of the show.