All for Anna

Faced with Railway Minister Mamata Banerjees hectic schedule for the ongoing West Bengal elections,the Rail Bhavan is pulling out all stops to ensure that Didi is not exposed to any adverse or negative publicity. So much so that the ministry even went to the extent of mobilising personnel from the Railways Protection Force RPF twice in the past couple of weeks to stop a suspended loco-pilot from approaching the poll-bound minister. As per sources,an assistant loco-pilot from Jabalpur,who had been suspended by the Railways for overshooting the red signal in 2008,set off to meet Mamata in Kolkata on April 22. Sensing that this employee could generate adverse publicity for the minister,the Railway Board directed the RPF to intercept him and prevent him from reaching Kolkata. The loco-pilot was intercepted by the RPF near Chopan in Jharkhand on a Jabalpur-Kolkata train,was made to de-board the train,and escorted back to Jabalpur. A similar sequence of events had taken place around two weeks back when the same loco-pilot was intercepted by the RPF near Jhajha in Bihar and was packed off to Jabalpur. Despite having overshot the red signal,this loco-pilot,along with his colleague,had managed to stop the train 200 metres before it could have rammed into a stationary train. It was probably this fact that he has been wanting to bring to Didis notice to plead his case for reinstatement. Pity his crusade got derailed.

Tough talk in Nepal

It was among the few occasions when External Affairs Minister S M Krishna,who was on a visit to Nepal,was mandated to deliver a hard message. The target: Nepalese Maoist leader Prachanda who was apparently shocked by the manner in which the mild-mannered Krishna came down on him during their bilateral meeting. The issue at hand was desecration and defacing of the Indian national flag at places across Nepal. Krishna told Prachanda that the national flag was a symbol of Indian pride and abusing it in any manner was unacceptable to New Delhi. Every other talking point was set aside as Krishna made it clear that verbal assurances would have to be followed in practice which New Delhi would watch closely. For all the talk on Indian interference,which is behind the Maoist anger on the streets,Prachanda surprised the Indian delegation by still asking for support to install a Maoist leader as Prime Minister of Nepal. Krishna firmly turned down the request,saying such action would amount to the kind of interference that the Maoists are accusing India of.

NACs ambivalence

Though the National Advisory Council NAC has declared that since a joint committee comprising government and non-government representatives was already drafting a Lokpal Bill,it will not deal with the subject any more to avoid duplicity. It has left many people guessing. The NACs press release merely stated that it will not deal with the Bill for the present. Aruna Roy who heads the NAC Working Group on Transparency,Accountability and Governance,that was working on a Lokpal Bill,is also not willing to clear the air. Asked for clarification whether it means that the NAC could come into the picture sometime later after the Joint Committee finalises its version Roy sidestepped it saying that the query should be directed to the NAC Secretariat.

Justice Denied

Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy,who lost their children in the Uphaar fire tragedy,are extremely unhappy with the insensitivity of the Supreme Court staff. Despite having a recommendation from their lawyer for a long pass for entry into the Supreme Court,Neelam had to recently lodge a complaint with the Registrar concerned because she was not issued the pass by the Supreme Court reception desk. Neelam,who directly assists the lawyers in court,is concerned whether she will be able to continue doing it anymore when the Uphaar case comes up next in the Supreme Court. Even the Registrar,she says,was unsympathetic at first and only relented when she asked him to take off his official jacket and join the long queue of litigants waiting for an entry pass at the reception.