File Phobia

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has spent enough years in government to know how a sarkari office looks like from inside

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has spent enough years in government to know how a sarkari office looks like from inside. Many were,therefore,taken aback at the surprise he expressed after seeing a heap of files,papers and other documents lying in a corner inside Shastri Bhawan. Is that the way they keep their papers,he wondered aloud. Someone told him that these were probably not very important papers and that such a sight was not very unfamiliar. But that did not seem to have convinced Ahluwalia. He shrugged and walked out with a disbelieving smile of a visitor making his first trip to a ministry in Delhi.

Tit for Tat

You can trust Samajwadi Party co-founder Azam Khan to pay back his party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in his own coin. Not only has Khan,the partys Muslim face,avoided sharing the stage with Mulayam and the Shahi Imam of Delhis Jama Masjid,whom Mulayam has roped in to woo the minority support for the party,in Lucknow,but also got back at both of them using the words once Mulayam had used against the Imam. Let politics be left to politicians, Azam said echoing the remarks of his party chief who had once told the father of current Imam the same thing in 1993. Incidentally,Azam did not object to the current Imams influence in nominating a candidate from Saharanpur district. Azam,in fact,tacitly supported his recommendation as it was going against the wishes of the partys vice-president,Rasheed Masood,who,ultimately,defected to the Congress.

Floor Index

Pankaj Pachauri,the PMOs new Communication Adviser,has received his official notification,designating him as Additional Secretary. But he has actually got luckier than that. With Harish Khare quitting abruptly,Pachauri has been allotted the media advisers room on the PMOs coveted first floor where the PM,Principal Secretary and National Security Adviser also have their offices. Earlier,he was supposed to get a room on the ground floor with the remaining directors and joint secretaries. The allotment has led to speculation that this might actually have sealed the debate over whether the PMO will get another officer over Pachauri to replace Khare.

Predatory Pricing

The troubled aviation sector has been trying different ideas to perk up cash registers. One of the suggestions the airlines are working on is to evolve predatory pricing,which is essentially a consensus among major fliers to maintain certain fare levels that would ensure the required revenue flow. Heads of Air India,Kingfisher,Jet Airways and Indigo have been in discussions,but a consensus has eluded them so far. Its learnt that an informal meeting took place this month on the issue. Interestingly,some MPs have also favoured the idea of predatory pricing in Parliamentary committee meetings.

Misguided Praise

The Congress is putting up a brave face in trying to control the damage caused by the two-page advertisement its state unit had put out which seemed to praise Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. But behind the scenes,the central leadership was quick in making enquiries and pin down the blame on former PCC chief Siddharth Patel,who,sources said,was ticked off for the fiasco. Apparently,the ad was the brainchild of Patel,son of the former CM Chimanbhai Patel,who thought it would be a fitting tribute on Republic Day to all Gujarat chief ministers. Of course,the key driver,according to sources,seemed to be to highlight the contribution of his father. But in the process,he ended up clearing an ad which lauded the achievement of Congresss arch political enemy,Narendra Modi.