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Beni Prasad Verma's enthusiasm knows no bounds.

Beni Prasad Vermas enthusiasm knows no bounds. The Steel Ministry headed by him surprised many last week by issuing large newspaper advertisements to mark the fourth year of the UPA government. The surprise was on account of the fact that the fourth anniversary was still a few days away. It later emerged that Verma was calculating the age of the government from the day the 15th Lok Sabha was constituted,that is on May 18. Having been caught on the wrong foot,Verma now does not want to be found missing on the day other ministries are likely to come up with advertisements. So,fresh advertisements from the Steel Ministry are said to be ready to appear on the correct fourth anniversary of the government.

Home Ground

THE Home Ministry put together a delegation of some 15 officials for the Homeland Security dialogue in the United States,raising eyebrows in high places as to whether this was being treated as a big junket by North Block. Home Secretary R K Singh and HS-in-waiting Anil Goswami both were part of the delegation being headed by Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. Virtually every important joint secretary was on the trip. Finally,the political top brass intervened as an appalled PMO asked difficult questions. As a result,Goswami was asked to stay back to let Singh say his last goodbye to the US.

Power Cut

CONGRESS president Sonia Gandhi is said to be quite upset over rumours of a rift between her and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. So much so that she is apparently on an informal fact-finding mission of sorts,asking senior leaders searching questions. It was no surprise,therefore,that Digvijaya Singh was on a TV show last week asserting that there is only one power centre and that was the PM,probably clearing the air on his earlier remarks about Sonia and Singh being two power poles. But while he may be in the list of usual suspects,the gaze seems to be on some others as well. Among them,it is learnt,is partys media cell head Janardhan Dwivedi. The word out is that he may soon find himself orbited out of the party hemisphere and probably sent to a Raj Bhavan.

FILM TALK

VISITING Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh happened to talk about Bollywood at the private dinner at 7,Race Course Road on Sunday evening. The Chinese leader told his host that he had watched Amir Khan-starrer Three Idiots which had been quite a crowd-puller in China. During the conversation,Li sometimes spoke in English as well,not depending entirely on his interpreter. In terms of food,however,the Chinese Premier was selective,opting for a fully vegetarian meal,though the dinner,as is expected at such events,was an elaborate affair.

Chaat Puja

Rs 1 crore for a chaat party? The National Film Development Corporation may not have found it odd,but Iamp;B Minister Manish Tewari surely did. The government was to organise two back-to-back parties in Cannes on the same day. Being the focus country in Cannes this year,India was to co-host an official party along with the event organisers and then throw a chaat party on the beach the same evening. After all it happens to be the centenary year of Indian cinema. Each of these parties was to cost about Rs 1 crore. Tewari,however,put his foot down and made it clear that such extravagance could not be allowed. He told the NFDC the nodal agency to cancel one. The NFDC cancelled the evening event at the beach. Tewari also brought down the overall budget of Indias participation at Cannes from Rs 5.42 crore to Rs 2.71 crore with Iamp;B Ministry and Tourism Ministry sharing the cost equally between them.