Delhi Confidential: Panchayati debate

MoD Jugglery

The Defence Ministrys vital acquisition wing will see a bit of jugglery in coming days with the appointment of Asha Ram Sihag to the post of Director General Acquisition an Additional Secretary level post. Sihag,who was earlier posted at the Ministry of External Affairs,is Himachal Pradesh cadre officer from the 1983 batch. Also from the same batch is current Joint Secretary amp; Acquisition Manager Land System Upamanyu Chatterjee who earlier held additional charge for air acquisitions. As per the structure,Chatterjee reports to the DG Acquisition and Sihags appointment has thrown open questions of seniority. Chatterjee,who did not make it to the next rank this time,will most likely be moved to a new department within the Defence Ministry.

Home breached

Alarm bells rang in Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shindes security team when a woman fell on his feet while he was leaving his North Block office last Thursday. The woman,wife of a suspended BSF constable,had come to seek help from the minister along with her children and the husband. Security has been beefed up after the incident with clear instructions that no one be allowed to stand at the entrance at the time of arrival and departure of the minister. The Home Ministers security including police personnel from Delhi Police were also pulled up for the security lapse and letting the woman block Shinde.

Warming up

Amid reports about President Pranab Mukherjees daughter Sharmishtha thinking about taking the political plunge around the next Lok Sabha election,the grapevine has it that she recently accompanied Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on her campaign trail. Although she did not address any gathering,she was by Dikshits side in areas with Bengali concentrations. The Congress has roped its top leaders and chief ministers like Bhupinder Singh Hooda,Oommen Chandy,Vijay Bahuguna and Virbhadra Singh to reach out to people from their respective states who are voters in Delhi. An accomplished Kathak dancer,Sharmishtha has not spoken about her political plans yet.

Making a point

Even as Tarun Tejpal dominates headlines for his alleged sexual assault on a young colleague,Tehelka,the magazine that he founded,has done a cover story on Aarushi Talwar murder case in its latest issue pointing to the media and the lynch mob for influencing justice and playing to the gallery. Tehelka says the courts verdict was on expected lines; the lynch mob had already made up its mind and the media playing to the gallery,had done its bit in the deliverance of justice.

Back to work

Having been acquitted in the cash-for-votes scam,unattached Rajya Sabh MP Amar Singh has started gaining some political traction. In the first major social event,Singh on Monday will be hosting retired Army Generals from India and Pakistan which is likely to be attended by Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid and Pakistani High Commissioner Salman Bashir along with former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar. True to his style,while he has got famous qawwals to enthrall the audience,expect some Bollywood stars also to dash in.

Suiting the decision

Although in Delhi last week for his daughters wedding on November 29,nothing prevented Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan from monitoring the administrative work in Mantralaya. Officials in Mantralaya were surprised when Chavan,in midst of his daughters sangeet ceremony,sent a file suggesting 10 corrections to be carried out in the government campaign for a B R Ambedkar memorial in Indu Mills. Chavan pointed that Ambedkars suit shown in the picture should be black instead of blue. The reason was that a blue suit would be confining him to the Republican Party of India RPI as the colour is often associated with the party. Ambedkar is a national leader,Chavan argued. So instead of blue the colour of the suit was changed to a classic black.