The visa rewrite

The Congress top brass has been waiting with bated breath for the impending reshuffle in the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) but it has not happened for a year. Naturally, party affairs are in a shambles. With Ambika Soni and A.K. Antony moving to the Cabinet, important states like Jammu and Kashmir and Karantaka remain neglected, but their posts are yet to be filled. Oscar Fernandes has his hands full. Besides being a Union minister, he is in charge of all north-eastern states and is special envoy for talks with the NSCM. Antony has offloaded part of his party work to another general secretary, Mukul Wasnik. But the leader with maximum load is political secretary Ahmad Patel. So much so, nothing in the party moves without him. Even correspondence forwarded to him by 10 Janpath often takes weeks to be cleared. His latest task is to reorganise the party’s defunct Kashmir group, in the light of fast developments on the front.

Meeting sans ‘masala’

The BJP is fast learning that the uninspiring media releases from the PM’s Office can be horned. It was agreed that the PM’s meeting with the BJP leadership on January 2 would be briefed by the former’s office, but the BJP was less than pleased with some newspapers the next morning, which conveyed the N-deal was discussed and abided by the main Opposition party. A message was promptly relayed to the government that not only was the N-deal not discussed, the BJP was also opposed to it. So, government sources let it be known that the New Year meeting was actually as routine as the bland Press release had indicated in the first place.

YSR’s smokescreen

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. Rajasekhara Reddy is still not giving up. Last week, he flew to Delhi and met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and key Congress ministers in the Cabinet, notably, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, on the beedi issue. YSR may have said he came to discuss the power shortage in the state, but his meeting with Ramadoss certainly included ‘sensitising’ the Centre on the plight of beedi workers in the state. He pleaded with the minister to remove the statutory skull sign on beedi packets saying sales would drop if the warning was carried. However, his concern for the thousands of workers employed in this small-scale industry was smirked at — it is well known when sales dip, it is the powerful owners of beedi factories who will be really hit.

For friendship sake

The Congress-NCP alliance for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is off, but NCP chief Sharad Pawar had already pulled the knife when he set up his old confidante RPI Lok Sabha member Ramdas Athawale to join hands with other RPI factions, the Samajwadi Party, CPI and CPI(M) to float a front. Though this grand coalition was to take on the Shiv Sena-BJP combine, it is certainly going to eat into the Dalit-Muslim Congress votes. Then to cap it, the NCP has resolved to contest all 227 wards. The beneficiary will undoubtedly be Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. Given their long-time friendship, it is very much in order that Pawar lends his strategic help to Thackeray when he is fighting a crucial battle to retain his base.

In the right spirit

On his first trip to the North-East after taking over, Defence Minister A.K. Antony lived up to his sanctimonious image. Despite the arduous task of reviewing the security arrangements in the wake of the ULFA killings, the minister found the time to interact with jawans, inquiring about the quality of food, clothing and other problems if any. He is even reported to have walked into the kitchen, and soon, it was time to check out the canteen. But, on seeing the liquor store, the Defence Minister is believed to have grimaced and hurriedly walked past it. He chose not to enter.

Image-conscious

But his deputy, MoS for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju, is on a PR spree. First his personal staff asked that his publicity photos be ‘touched up’ so that he looked better for the Press, then he preened in a back cover blow-up with Jordan’s stunning Queen Rania and King Abdullah II of Sainik Samachar, the widely circulated fauji journal. And now, after touring Mongolia and South Korea, it seems the publicity has finally gone to Raju’s head. According to a member of his staff, Pallam Raju now wants his own dedicated PRO who will follow him around and ensure media coverage of every move he makes, whether inaugurating border roads or attending an army polo match. The ministry has not yet commented on the demand, and it would be interesting to see how his boss will take it.

Bitten by PR bug

Home Minister Shivraj Patil too seems to be stung by the PR bug and is keen to know what the media thinks about his ministry. He has just instructed officials to furnish the full details of the interactive session between the media and his Secretary V.K. Duggal on December 22. Patil also wants his officials to give a report on the benefits of such programmes. The minister has apparently been advised that such interactions can only do good, and apart from better coverage, will also ensure fewer goof-ups.

Tailpiece

The BMC election is seeing quite a few innovative methods of wooing voters. Unlike the straightforward jhopdi lot, the middle-class votes cannot be openly lured with money. So, housing societies are getting fresh coats of paint, bijli-paani bills for common areas are paid and even all-expenses-paid teertha-yatras for senior citizens of these colonies are being organised by desperate corporators.