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Journalism of Courage
Ram Jethmalani was evasive when the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs quizzed him as to who was the appointing authority for his Kashmir mission.
Equally sceptical, intelligence agencies declined to provide him confidential information. When Jethmalani broached the idea that he would like to act as the government8217;s unofficial negotiator in Kashmir, Advani and Vajpayee agreed on the premise that there was no harm in one more interlocutor on Kashmir.
After all, A S Dulat, K C Pant, Girish Saxena, Arun Jaitley and R K Mishra have all accomplished very little so far. They should have known from past experience that the flamboyant Jethmalani is not one to hide his light under a bushel.
In next to no time, he had appointed a high profile committee of six to assist him and newspapers were splashing reports and photographs of 8216;8216;the government8217;s messenger8217;8217; with the Kashmir hardliners.
This was followed by the news that the Hurriyat wanted the elections delayed. Advani had no option but to cold shoulder the idea publicly. The maverick Jethmalani upset some members of his team by his impulsive outburst terming the Hurriyat as 8216;8216;paper tigers8217;8217;.
Worse, when he feared his mission was being aborted he lashed out at the government as well, charging that New Delhi was brimming with scams and was trying to intimidate the election commissioner.
Extending Control
An indicator of the power-equations at the Centre will be whether Cabinet Secretary T R Prasad, who is due to retire at the end of October, gets an extension. Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani favours the Home Secretary, Kamal Pandey, who is one of the seniormost in the 1965 batch and has a year left for retirement, as his replacement. Finance Secretary S Narayanan, also from the 1965 batch, is another candidate in the running. The PMO feels that Prasad has been an exceptional cabinet secretary familiar with all aspects of government8212;unlike his predecessor Prabhat Kumar8212;and should be retained for another year till he reaches the age of 62, although Pandey has pressed his claim. The fact that Prasad was not appointed CVC suggests that the government may well grant him a fresh extension.
Reality Bytes
It is not just the Gujarat BJP which is split over support to Narendra Modi, the Central government too is sharply divided on retaining him as chief minister.
Prime Minister Vajpayee, Pramod Mahajan, Murli Manohar Joshi and Sushma Swaraj are squarely in the anti-Modi camp and now even the RSS spokesperson, M G Vaidya, in an article in Panchjanya supports the ousted Gujarat minister Haren Pandya and gives a thumbs down to Modi. Even more curiously, Vaidya has praised Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela8217;s pro-Hindu efforts in the state!
Modi supporters have been touting a poll survey showing him as the second most popular chief minister in the country. But if Modi8217;s ratings are really that high, their extreme nervousness at the possibility of a slight delay in the Gujarat elections is not understandable. Clearly, they fear that the increasing effect of electricity shortages, rising groundnut oil prices, bank scandals and water shortages may puncture the CM8217;s high on Hindutva.
Leaking Loose Ends
Six months ago, when an investigating officer leaked the news of Ravi Kant Sharma8217;s involvement in the Shivani murder case was transferred since the then Police Commissioner, Ajai Raj Sharma, wanted all the loose ends tied up before going to the press.
The less experienced new police chief, R S Gupta, hoped for kudos and rushed to announce Sharma8217;s name as the prime suspect within a month of taking office without first arresting him.
Instead of appreciation, the government is furious with Gupta because of the adverse publicity generated.
Considering that Sharma had all along indicated to the Delhi police that if he were charged, he would drag in Pramod Mahajan8217;s name this was one case which required delicate handling.
Double Talk
Sharad Pawar8217;s NCP believes in hunting with the hounds and running with the hares. In Gujarat, it is talking to the Congress about a tie-up, at the same time working on an electoral third front which would please the BJP.
In Karnataka, Pawar has asked Ramkrishna Hedge to merge his MLAs with the NCP, while back in Delhi he confers with Hegde8217;s rival Deve Gowda over dinner. In Orissa he has consultations with both Naveen Patnaik and the chief minister8217;s bete noire, Dilip Ray.
In the recent vice presidential elections, the NCP supported Opposition candidate Sushil Kumar Shinde but many of the party8217;s votes went to Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
