Courtesy round

Shortly after his nomination was announced,Mukherjee in fact drove to Ansaris residence to pay a courtesy visit.

Courtesy round

As the UPA finally named Pranab Mukherjee as its choice for Presidents post,the other nominee whose name was under consideration,Vice-President Hamid Ansari,took the decision in his stride and went about with his normal schedule. In the afternoon,he stepped out for a round of golf. Notwithstanding the rivalry that got created between them,Ansari and Mukherjee shared an extremely warm relationship. Shortly after his nomination was announced,Mukherjee in fact drove to Ansaris residence to pay a courtesy visit.

Anna Abroad?

Anna Hazare and his Lokpal agitation seems all set to go international. Hazare has received an invitation from British MP Barry Gardiner on behalf of the Labour Friends of India for a felicitation in London on July 17. The India Against Corruption team says a final decision on Annas trip to London has not been taken yet but claimed that he had many invites from the UK for him to come and spread the message of Lokpal.

Loaded Message

SENIOR BJP leader Jaswant Singh inflicted a long monologue on the global economic situation on NDA leaders who had gathered to discuss the presidential election at the Prithviraj Road residence of L K Advani on Friday. As they sat yawning,Singh finally came to his punchline,saying that they had to decide on the posts of both the President and the Vice-President. That immediately set off murmurs among the leaders: Oh,the Vice-President. Loaded words these,considering that Singh himself is eyeing the post of Vice-President.

Job Appreciation

THE Culture Ministers private secretary seems to take her work quite seriously. Dr G Anupama Kumar a 1991-batch Haryana cadre IAS officer is learnt to have enrolled for a certificate course in Art and Appreciation at the National Museum. The course is likely to make her better equipped to handle her current work profile. With little activity happening in the ministry,this doctor-turned-civil servant seems to have decided to utilise her time effectively.

Rapid Response

IN its bid to undo the damage caused by Mulayam Singh Yadavs now-famous joint press conference with Mamata Banerjee two days ago,the Samajwadi Party found itself racing against its bete-noire BSP in extending support to UPAs Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee. As soon as Mukherjees candidature was announced by Sonia Gandhi,Mulayam Singh,who was in Lucknow,instructed party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav in Delhi to immediately make the party stand known. So urgent was the missive that Ram Gopal hitched a ride to the Samajwadi Party office in the car of a television correspondent who was waiting outside his residence. And on his way,he called up the television channel to announce his partys support to Mukherjee. He then called up other television reporters to hurry to his office. The urgency was necessitated by the fact that the BSP supremo Mayawati had called a press conference in Luknow in the evening to back the candidature of Mukherjee. Mulayam Singh wanted to be sure that he was ahead of Mayawati in doing

this,and finally succeeded in his initiative.