All the PMs guests

The rise of Omars advisor

Devender Singh Rana,political advisor to Jammu amp; Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah,is causing heartburn in the Congress due to his increasing clout in the state administration. A civil engineer-turned-businessman and politician,Rana is considered one of the most powerful persons in the state today and wields authority over both ministers and bureaucrats,thanks to his unquestioned proximity with the Chief Minister. He is also Omars pointman in coordinating with the Congress. While a section of the NC leadership is said to be resentful about his extra-constitutional clout,the Congress leaders don8217;t know who to complain to as Rana also keeps Farooq Abdullah in good humour.

Hooda in trouble8230;

Violence against Dalits at Mirchpur in Hisar district last month continues to haunt Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda,who is facing the ire of the party high command. He has been desperately seeking an appointment with Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the last three weeks,but to no avail. Moreover,AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi,who had made an unannounced visit to Mirchpur,also does not look inclined to forgive and forget. On Friday,Rahul met about half-a-dozen Dalit MLAs from Haryana,sending jitters in Hooda8217;s camp.

8230;Selja cashes in

Supporters of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda are noticing an interesting pattern develop over the last year-and-a-half. Whenever Hooda is in political trouble,Union Tourism Minister Kumari Selja,who hails from the same state and is often seen as the alternative CM,addresses a press conference in Chandigarh. She did this last year immediately after the Assembly elections,when it seemed a section of the Congress central leadership was not in favour of Hooda continuing in his post despite the fact that he had led the party to an impressive victory. Selja landed in Chandigarh again last week when Hooda was under pressure over the killing of Dalits in Mirchpur. Selja used her press conference to take indirect digs at the state government over the Dalit killings and khap panchayats. Interestingly,on both occasions,Selja was in Chandigarh on the invitation of Ram Niwas,a 1985-batch IAS officer from Haryana cadre who is the Home Secretary of the Chandigarh UT administration. He not only arranged the press conference but also footed the bill.

Minister derails train schedule

During his visits to Bundelkhand,Minister of State for Rural Development Pradeep Jain never misses his train,even if he arrives late at the railway stations. A trusted lieutenant of Rahul Gandhi,Jain,who has risen from the grassroots,does not say no to any public function in his Jhansi constituency. He often makes unscheduled stops to interact with people even outside his constituency. Knowing that the minister may be delayed,his aides ensure that the train that he is scheduled to board does not leave the station until he arrives.

Showcasing dhoti-kurta in China

Former rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh is set to make a sartorial point when he visits China later this month. He is accompanying President Pratibha Patil on her maiden visit to the neighbouring country. As a presidential visit involves many ceremonial functions,Singhs aides asked him if they should get some western outfits ready. But the RJD MP from Vaishali told them that he would stick to his usual dress code: dhoti-kurta.

When Sonia was forgotten

When the Culture Ministry set up two high-level committees recently to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekanand,Congress president Sonia Gandhi did not figure in either of them. On the eve of the first meetings of the two committees,both headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,the Ministry noticed the vital omission and immediately issued a revised gazette notification adding her name to the list. The Congress president duly attended the meeting the next day.

Jamp;K tops Azads priority list

That this former chief minister8217;s heart remains in Jammu amp; Kashmir is no secret. Ghulam Nabi Azad has been engaged in a bitter factional feud with Saifuddin Soz for control of the Congress state unit. What especially annoys the UPA managers is Azads nonchalance to his current portfolio of Ministry of Health amp; Family Welfare at the Centre a crucial assignment given Sonia Gandhis emphasis on social infrastructure. The minister has now decided to skip the Indo-US strategic dialogue envisaging inter-agency cooperation between the two countries in half-a-dozen sectors including education and health. While his ministerial colleagues including Kapil Sibal and Prithviraj Chavan have decided to take time out of their busy schedules to attend the dialogue,Azad has decided to send one of his deputies for the important event that is expected to set the groundwork for US President Barack Obamas visit to New Delhi in November.  

No time for party affairs

The Indian National Congress may soon need to take a few tips from Rahul Gandhi on his talent hunt exercise. Senior party functionaries are either reluctant to occupy the post or have little time for it. For instance,Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Rural Development Minister C P Joshi,presidents of the West Bengal and Rajasthan units of the Congress respectively,have little time for state politics. Same is the case with Union Minister Prithviraj Chavan,who,apart from holding a number of important ministerial portfolios,is also AICC general secretary in charge of Jammu amp; Kashmir and Haryana. Though a proven administrator who does not shy away from burning midnight oil,Chavan would be happy to shed some extra load. Union Minister and AICC general secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka,Ghulam Nabi Azad remains too preoccupied with party politics in his home state of Jammu amp; Kashmir to care about any other state. Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs V Narayansami,once an active general secretary,seems to have lost interest in party affairs in charge of Chhattisgarh,he has been impervious to all debates and controversies over the governments Naxal policy. According to Congress leaders,Sonia Gandhi is aware of the problem but cannot find suitable replacements.

On Jamia,its Sibal vs Khurshid

The issue of granting minority status to Jamia Milia Islamia has led to sparring between two ministers of the UPA government. Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid,who had supported the demand for minority status,recently got a lesson in History from Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal,who has been countering the move. In a letter to Khurshid,Sibal reminded him that Jamia was established as an essentially secular institute and there were no valid reasons to revisit or overturn those high traditions. That has silenced Khurshid for now.

Lessons from Swaziland

Meira Kumars unanimous election as Lok Sabha Speaker may have been seen as a symbol of empowerment of women,but her recent trip to Swaziland was proof that women still have a long way to go to overcome barriers. During her recent trip to Lobamba,the capital of Swaziland,where she was attending the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Executive Committee meeting,Kumar was unable to meet the Queen Mother,who is the substitute ruler of the kingdom. She did not catch a glimpse of the daughters-in-law either as King Mswati III kept all his 14 wives out of bounds when Kumar called on him at Lozitha Palace.

A change of uniform

The sight of Delhi-based Army officers dressed in combat dress every Friday will now be a thing of the past. The change of guard at Army Headquarters has led to this decision,which reverses the order by former Army Chief Gen J J Singh,who is now Governor of Arunachal Pradesh. Singh had argued that at least once a week,officers posted in the headquarters should, in a message of solidarity with those posted in difficult areas,wear combat uniform. His successor Gen Deepak Kapoor went a step further,asking officers to do away with regimental insignia on the combat uniform. But at the recently concluded Army Commanders Conference,it was felt that officers should don the uniform suitable to carry out staff work in Delhi. The combat uniform,as the rule stipulates,should be worn only when in combat.

Moily gets the address wrong

Law Minister Veerappa Moily seems to be confused these days. In his urgency to make a Karnataka Congress party office-bearer,Prema Chalappa,an independent director in the Navratna mining giant National Mineral Development Corporation,he seems to have committed a faux pas. He has sent his request to Mines Minister B K Handique recommending Chalappa for the post,taking Handique completely by surprise as NMDC is under the administrative control of the Steel Ministry. Politely reminding Moily that NMDC was under the Steel Ministry,Handique said he would forward his request to Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh.

Iamp;B scraps Twitter plan

While Twitter is increasingly becoming a strong news source with big breaks announced recently on the microblogging forum,the infamy it has come to be associated with in government circles may have jeopardised the PIBs grand plans to tweet news. With former MoS Shashi Tharoor and suspended IPL chairman Lalit Modi landing in considerable trouble after their tweets,it is learnt that PIB Principal DG Neelam Kapoor,who was keenly exploring a Twitter debut for PIB,has junked the idea for now.