Behind the resignation drama

At the height of the controversy over the Finance Ministrys note on 2G spectrum licence allocation,there was intense speculation that Home Minister P Chidambaram had offered to resign.

At the height of the controversy over the Finance Ministrys note on 2G spectrum licence allocation,there was intense speculation that Home Minister P Chidambaram had offered to resign. It now emerges,according to senior Congress ministers who claim to be in the know,that all he had told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was that he was in a difficult situation because of the way the note had been interpreted in the court and by the media. The Home Minister had conveyed to the PM that he might have to clarify the issue if it was not sorted out immediately. As is known now,the Congress president and the PM intervened to get Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to clarify the issue.

Minority Expansion

The National Commission for Minorities is hunting for a new office building. The Commission,which has been functioning for long out of the centrally located Loknayak Bhawan,has already shortlisted some locations near INA market. The reason that the NCM is giving is that it now intends to monitor the PMs 15-point programme and would,therefore,require more personnel and space. Interestingly,the Minority Affairs Ministry is willing to sacrifice its turf and has reacted positively to the expansion of the NCMs charter.

Star of the Show

CONSCIOUS of its new-found star status,the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General is now all set to woo the media. It has engaged the services of as many as three media managers to handle its newly-discovered fame. Not so long ago,the CAG used to be just an additional responsibility of the officer handling the Finance Ministry in the Press Information Bureau. While the CAG has retained that arrangement,it has sought an additional media officer who would be dedicated to its affairs. These two officers are apart from the one that the CAG had hired full time following his retirement from Indian Information Service sometime back.

Crisis Management

UNDER fire from the Supreme Court to fill up vacancies of 30 IPS officers at the SP-level in the CBI within two months,the Department of Personnel and Training DoPT has sent out an SOS to state governments. DoPT secretary Alka Sirohi recently shot off a note to state governments asking them to nominate at least two SP-level officers from each state on deputation to the Central Bureau of Investigations CBI. Sirohi,while urging the states to nominate IPS officers,has exhorted state governments to consider that these IPS officers will prove to be an asset to the state once they return after their stint in the CBI.

Old Guard at the GYM

THE old guard seems to have made a comeback at the Delhi Gymkhana club. In the latest election,Air Marshal Naresh Verma,who is a serving IAF officer currently posted as the Director General Administration,has emerged as the new president. Insiders insist that Vermas candidature was backed by former president of the club and known kingmaker A S Dulat,who retired as RAW chief. Verma was also supported by Air Marshal retd P S Ahluwalia,a former president. Support from the duo meant that the other top contender,Lt Gen retd Rajinder Singh lost by 154 votes in the keenly-watched elections.