Is Azad back in business?

BSY spanner in Bihar victory

Though the BJP made public its decision to allow B S Yeddyurappa to continue as Karnataka Chief Minister on the day of the Bihar Assembly poll verdict to avoid bad press,the move could not silence his in-house critics. It is believed senior leader Ananth Kumar a known detractor of Yeddyurappa gave vent to his frustration at the BJP Parliamentary Board meeting called to discuss the next steps in Bihar after the results. The euphoric atmosphere was dampened by Kumar,who in the presence of L K Advani,Nitin Gadkari and other senior leaders,said the Karnataka developments had sullied the partys image. Regarding the partys decision to announce the breather to Yeddyurappa on the day of the results,another senior leader had an interesting take. He was heard telling other leaders that it was like Chhatrapati Shivaji escaping from Aurangazebs custody in a basket of sweets.

No takers for Raja aide

The government might have got rid of A Raja but it doesnt know what to do with his one-time aide R K Chandolia,who is also under cloud in the 2G spectrum scam and who now has been shunted out of the Telecom Ministry. An Indian Economic Service officer,Chandolia was private secretary to Raja when the DMK leader was the Environment Minister in the previous UPA government. Raja took Chandolia along with him to the Telecom Ministry. Wary of posting him in any functional ministry considering the controversy surrounding him,the Department of Economic Affairs had sought to place Chandolia in the seemingly quiet environs of the Planning Commission. But the Planning Commission expressed its unwillingness to accommodate him in an office that is controlled directly by the Prime Minister. The DEA is now back to hunting another suitable post for its officer.

Section 377: Waiting for SC

A committee of secretaries headed by Home Secretary G K Pillai had almost decided to recommend that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code,which makes same-sex intercourse a criminal offence,be abolished. While the Supreme Court is still to decide the fate of the controversial clause the Delhi High Court has already ordered that it be done away with the Law Commission of India had earlier recommended that it be repealed. While many members of the committee favoured repealing of the Section,some felt that it would not be worthwhile to do anything right now. Rather,they felt,it would be better if the Supreme Court took a decision in this regard. Thereafter,the draft report of the committee was amended to remove the controversial portion.

Divine help to Yeddyurappas rescue

Guess what turned the tide in favour of Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa after most people had concluded that he was set to go? It was divine help,say his aides. The Gods were invoked on his behalf through a Shatrusamhara Puja,an elaborate ritual aimed at destroying ones enemies,performed at a temple in Kollam district of Kerala. The last time too,he had sought divine help by propitiating Shanidev and Goddess Bhadrakali to overcome the threat posed by the rebel BJP MLAs.

Stuck in an elevator

The British are sticklers when it comes to time and so some eyebrows were raised when a senior visiting UK minister got slightly delayed for a function in the Capital. Defence Secretary Liam Fox,who was in Delhi on an official visit,came in a few minutes late during a function organised by a think tank. Later,the organisers were found profusely apologising to Fox. It turned out that Fox was stuck in an elevator on the way up to the function. The joke doing the rounds was that after getting stuck for 10 minutes,the British minister offered a joint collaboration to develop better elevators.

No entry for Lalli

Prasar Bharti CEO BS Lalli may be firmly ensconced in his position against the wishes of many in the UPA government,but he was put in his place by Parliament staff the other day. It happened last week when Lalli tried to use the gates meant for MPs when the House was adjourned. In fact,he did cross the automatic gates reserved for MPs at the main entry point only to be stopped by the Parliament staff. He flashed his temporary entry pass and tried to throw his weight around to somehow ensure an entry. But the staff insisted that this breach of propriety could not be allowed notwithstanding the fact that there were no MPs in sight as both the Houses were adjourned for the day. In fact,the staff forced Lalli to retrace his steps and re-enter from the gates meant for ordinary visitors.

Once bitten,many times shy

With the Supreme Court raising questions over the delay in granting sanction to prosecute former Telecom Minister A Raja and the Opposition using the courts observations to target Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,the Cabinet Secretariat seems to have gone into a pro-active mode to avert such embarrassments in the future. The Cabinet Secretary is said to have shot off letters to all ministries,asking them to furnish information of pending cases regarding prosecution of public servants.

All the ministers men

With Union Human Resource Development HRD Minister Kapil Sibal now holding the additional charges of Telecom and Science amp; Technology,speculation is rife on how many personal secretaries the busy minister will now have. While his PS at HRD,V Umashankar,is just back after a study course and is likely to handle and coordinate most of the ministers daily engagements,there are many in contention for the hot seats at Telecom and Science amp; Technology. Last heard,the minister was considering officers from those ministries itself to keep him updated as he takes on the new challenges.

The spectrum courtroom drama

The 2G spectrum hearings saw several charged scenes between the CBI and the Supreme Court Bench. Senior advocate K K Venugopal,who appeared for the CBI,repeatedly objected to the Benchs scathing remarks about the investigation,including why the CBI did not find it fit to call Raja and his then Telecom Secretary P J Thomas and examine them on the basis of the CAG report. Venugopal said there was no point in the court making such remarks about a complex probe despite the CBI repeatedly offering to file status reports in sealed covers. To this,Justice G S Singhvi shot back at the senior counsel,saying we know in which manner we have to conduct the hearing and suggested that Venugopal wait his turn to argue the case.

All in Lalus family

While RJD chief Lalu Prasad tried to secure his wife Rabri Devis political future by fielding her from two constituencies and failed miserably,one of his MPs and long-time confidant Jagdanand Singh went the extra mile to ensure that his own son Sudhakar Singh was handed a crushing defeat. After the RJD denied him a ticket,Sudhakar Singh went over to the BJP and was fielded from Ramgarh constituency,which incidentally his father had earlier represented in the Lok Sabha. An angry Jagadanand Singh deployed all his might to ensure that Sudhakar was defeated notwithstanding the overwhelming pro-Nitish wave. In fact,Jagadanand claimed to have been disappointed because his son stood third while he was estimating the fourth slot for him. If Jagadanand put in extra effort to prevent allegations of nepotism,his party head Lalu paid little heed to such wisdom. Apart from bringing son Tejaswi into the political karmabhoomi even as there were murmurs in the party against the decision,Lalu also fielded his one-time personal assistant Binod Srivastava in the Assembly elections. Binod not only lost to the BJP by over 60,000 votes but also forfeited his deposit.

Simple Didi vs Bollywood glamour

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee seemed to be on an image-building mission last week when she reached Goa to inaugurate the International Film Festival as chief guest. She was dressed in her standard rubber chappals and regular cotton sari while mingling with Bollywood stars. Trinamool spinmasters did not lose the opportunity to highlight the contrast when she turned up at the reception that evening. Her simplicity was the selling point for her aides. If all this was not enough,she chose to stay at a guesthouse of the Port Trust even though other cabinet ministers and dignitaries were put up in the five-star hotels where the participants were also lodged. This despite the fact the guesthouse was well outside the city and quite a distance away from the festival venue.