Case apart

SPIRITUAL HELP

When he was in jail,most of the party colleagues of RJD chief Lalu Prasad kept dropping in to keep him abreast of the political movements outside. But one of his senior colleagues sought to provide him spiritual company. RJD vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh was learnt to have given Lalu copies of the Gita,the Ramayan and the Quran for reading in the solitude of jail. On Friday,Singh rushed to AIIMS when he learnt about Lalu’s hospitalisation soon after the RJD chief landed in New Delhi,his first visit to the city after getting bail last week.

TAKING A BREAK

Having offered to resign over the Telangana issue,HRD Minister Pallam Raju had stayed away from office since October 3. On Friday,he sprung a surprise by scheduling a meeting in his Shastri Bhawan office just a day before he heads to the US for vacation. He will be next seen in his office only in the second week of January as he plans to spend time back in his home state and constituency in the interim period.

NEW YEAR WISH

The Union Law Ministry’s Legal Affairs Department is all set to get a new Secretary with incumbent B A Aggarwal proceeding on leave before he demits office. He will join the Central Administrative Tribunal,Chandigarh Bench,as a member in the new year. Aggarwal,who was trying to get rehabilitated in New Delhi,is said to be still hopeful that in a few months’ time,he would be transferred to the capital as some vacancies for which he was in contention are yet to be filled up.