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Journalism of Courage
It is never too late to wake up. The Congress members of the Public Accounts Committee PAC of Parliament,after remaining low-key all this while,went into overdrive at the last meeting to prevent the deposition of the Attorney-General. The reason: it dawned on them that PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi is all set to submit his report to the Speaker before the term of the present committee expires on April 30. The Congress luminaries on the panel had hoped till now that Joshi would take it easy and carry on with the probe well in to his next term. They would have been on the right track except Joshi was more on the ball than they were.
Taxing times
The Right connection
Such a unique show of friendship is seldom witnessed. The occasion was the launch of a new political formation,the Welfare Party of India,backed by the Jamaat-e-Islami-e-Hind. The person conducting the proceedings surprisingly called out the name of BJP Minority Morcha in-charge J K Jain and requested him to address the gathering,a majority of whom were Muslims. However,he took care to emphasise that even though the BJP is our enemy,Jain Sahib is our friend. As if to return the compliment,Jain began his speech by saying,I dont know why I have been called. Still, he said,I wish you well on my part as well as on behalf of the BJP. He said those at the helm of the new party were his friends. The invitation to Jain to address the gathering,however,did not impress many. Some were heard murmuring that a BJP man should not have been called to the stage. But then politics always makes for strange bedfellows.
Fringe benefits
Senior advocate Harish Salve has been on a weight loss programme and his trimmer avatar has not escaped notice by the Bench. Yesterday morning in open court,Justice R V Raveendran,on seeing Salve weave his way to the front through a packed courtroom to address the Bench in a case,remarked now we understand why you have reduced weight. Salve was ready with a quick repartee: This is what I call some fringe benefits,My Lord.
Constituency wars
His onerous responsibilities being in charge of party affairs in Delhi,Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh may keep him away,but Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Birender Singh still keeps a close watch on his Assembly constituency,Uchana Kalan,back in Haryana,courtesy his wife. Though elections are still far away,Birender remembers his vow to fight again to avenge his poll defeat at the hands of INLD leader Om Prakash Chautala. Since it would be unwise for him to quit the Upper House halfway through his six-year term,Birender Singh seems to have changed the script a little. Looking at the way his wife Prem Lata has suddenly become politically active in the constituency,Uchana Kalan may eventually see just a proxy battle.
A house for Mrs amp; Mr Pillai
What was rejected by one has been found to be good enough by another. The house on Tughlaq Lane that RAW chief Sanjeev Tripathi found inadequate for himself is now being eyed by Planning Commission Member Secretary Sudha Pillai. Sudhas husband,Home Secretary G K Pillai,will retire at the end of June and the house they currently stay in is the designated residence for the Home Secretary. Sudha,who enjoys a Minister of State rank,is slated to retire only in June next year.
The MPs scrutiny
Almost a month after the Union Budget was passed,the parliamentary standing committees are now examining the demands for grants of various ministries prompting many MPs to wonder how the exercise could be relevant. Members attending the standing committee meeting on energy on Monday raised the issue when they took up the demand for grants to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The committees are supposed to deliberate on the demands for grants during the four-week recess in the Budget Session and then flag areas,ministry-wise,that need attention. However,because of the ongoing Assembly elections in five states,political parties in Parliament agreed to cut short the Budget Session by doing away with the recess and apply the guillotine to all demands for grants without any scrutiny of the committees,so that the Budget could be passed. The former Lok Sabha general secretary,P D T Achary,however,contends that examination of the demand for grants to various ministries is not very new and has been done earlier. Not only does the exercise provide latest information to the members,but they also allow for a proper examination of allocations,and even lead to changes in the allocations that is done in the revised estimates.
