Journalism of Courage
CONTRADICTORY VOICES
It is not often that you see a chief minister and deputy chief minister of a state meeting a Union minister with contradictory demands. But Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and his deputy Damodar Raja Narasimha did exactly that when they met Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Tuesday. Opposed to the states bifurcation plan,Reddy apprised Shinde of the unrest in the Seemandhra region and is learnt to have urged him to assuage the fears in some way. Sources said he wanted Shinde to give a signal that his ministry would wait for the A K Antony panel report before making its move. Narasimha,on the other hand,told Shinde any delay in setting in motion the process for creation of Telangana would result in the party losing the goodwill and advantage in the Telangana region.
BACK IN ACTION
Senior IPS officer R P Agarwal,who was moved to the Northeast,is finally back to the Delhi headquarters of the CBI as Joint Director. Agarwal,who belongs to the Assam-Meghalaya cadre,has been given charge of the Multi Disciplinary Monitoring Agency,set up to probe the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case,and also additional charge of Bhopal zone. A seasoned investigator,Agarwal headed the probe into the alleged Dara Singh fake encounter case involving a BJP leader from Rajasthan,which had the opposition party up in arms. Agarwal had then been shifted to the Northeast. Rajeev Singh,an IPS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre,has replaced him as joint director in Guwahati.
SOME RELIEF
Ever since the announcement of a separate Telanagana state,HRD Minister Pallam Raju just like the other ministers from Andhra Pradesh has not ventured into his constituency Kakinanda because of the deep resentment there.
Those close to the minister,however,claim Raju may not have as much to fear this Lok Sabha election as the other ministers from the state. The reason: a recent party survey conducted in Andhra Pradesh was said to have projected that all ministers except Raju will be defeated in the Lok Sabha polls.
COST CUTTING
With austerity again being the buzzword,at the receiving end are various consultants who had been hired by government departments over the past few years. Instructions have been passed to either terminate their services or not to renew contracts. Among dozens of those who have been let off include consultants in the Home Ministry and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
