ARMED AND READY

While Congress MPs and MLAs from Telangana may be in a hurry to hear a final judgment on the Telangana issue from the party high command,the government seems to be in no mood to oblige. Top party functionaries say that the real issue is not Telangana,but Hyderabad where people from other regions have parked their investments. A senior minister said that the government will keep on talking with the local leadership in Telangana,just as we did in Gorkhaland and Nagaland. It looks like a long haul for Telangana leaders.

Photo Shy

It is a case of once bitten,twice shy for the CBI. The agency recently updated its website with a corrected list of most wanted criminals,the previous version of which contained several mistakes and had been the reason for serious embarrassment for the government. Treading with extra caution this time,the CBI did not upload a picture of Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin. It did not have an authentic picture of the militant leader and did not risk validating the photographs circulating on the internet.

Missing in Action

Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections early next year,Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has been touring several states to address local party workers to motivate them to strengthen and deepen the BSP movement. She had undertaken a similar exercise after coming to power in UP in 2007. However,her visits this time is marked by the conspicuous absence of her close political aide and Rajya Sabha MP,Satish Mishra,who used to accompany her to political meetings earlier. In half-a-dozen meetings of party workers in the last few months,Satish Mishra was present in only one in Mumbai last week where she addressed workers from Gujarat and Maharashtra. His absence has caused plenty of tongues to wag.