Back Tracks

By withdrawing herself from the Prime Ministers trip to Bangladesh,Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not just put India in an awkward position.

By withdrawing herself from the Prime Ministers trip to Bangladesh,Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not just put India in an awkward position but also went back on a promise she gave to Dhaka just a few days ago. On August 27,Mamata was also present at Petrapole on the India-Bangladesh border,where Home Ministers of the two countries laid the foundation stone for an integrated check-post. There,in front of everyone,she told Bangladesh Home Minister Sahara Khatun that she was happy to be travelling to Dhaka within the next few days. No wonder Bangladesh is now peeved with Mamatas sudden and inexplicable turnaround.

House Calls

A Constitution amendment Bill to change the name of Orissa to Odisha sailed smoothly in the Lok Sabha,with 301 votes supporting it and nobody against it. However,what caught everyones eye was the fact that out of the 15 MPs of BJD,the ruling party in Orissa which sought the name change,only four were present at the time of vote. Meanwhile,one of the nine Congress MPs from Telangana,who have all submitted their resignations but are awaiting the decision of the Speaker,made an appearance in the House during the voting. Nizamabad MP Madhu Goud Yaskhi said that he was of the view that he could raise the Telangana issue better from inside the Lok Sabha than from outside. Yaskhis appearance could be the signal of a split in the ranks of Telangana MPs.

Not Ready for Reddys

Shakespeare may have wondered what is in a name,but for the BJP,it is a surname which is a red rag. Soon after reports gained currency that Jaganmohan Reddy,the son of the late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy,had met senior BJP leaders,the party took pains to let it be known that there was no truth in the report. We are steering clear of Reddys, a top BJP leader said in a loaded response to a query.

Arrested Development

Amar Singh had been apprehending his arrest for sometime now. A week ago,he is learnt to have told a Congress MP that he would be framed because he was alone. He pointed out that Samajwadi Party MP Rewati Raman Singh,another player in the cash-for-vote scam,had not even been chargesheeted in the case because his party had 22 MPs in the Lok Sabha,whose support is often needed by the UPA in crunch situations. Amar Singh went on to threaten that he would now side with the Samajwadi Party to finish the Congress in Uttar Pradesh.

Spin Doctored

While the leaked US diplomatic cables point towards across-the-board Indian concerns on Chinas expanding military,a senior MEA official apparently had a different take on the matter that he shared with the US Defence Attaché in March 2008. The then MEA Joint Secretary East Asia Vijay Gokhale told US officials that he sees no nefarious intentions in the Chinese militarys enlargement,contending that it is only natural for China to protect its overseas assets and expand in the Indian Ocean. In a twist,however,the diplomatic cable dismissed Gokhales opinion as inconsistent with the prevailing analysis. The cable,cleared by the then US Ambassador David Mulford,went a step further by saying that Gokhales dismissal of concern over Chinas military build-up had the feel of spin.