Left Hook

The Army Headquarters is quite puzzled by recent claims of boxing champion M C Mary Kom,an Olympic medal hopeful,that she is being appointed as a honorary Lt Col in the Territorial Army.

Left Hook

The Army Headquarters is quite puzzled by recent claims of boxing champion M C Mary Kom,an Olympic medal hopeful,that she is being appointed as a honorary Lt Col in the Territorial Army. While the sportsperson who could become the first ever woman to be given the honour has gone on record as saying that her appointment is imminent,Army HQ has no clue of the matter. In fact,the Territorial Army,which has given such honours to sportspersons in the past,and the Military Secretariat,which deals with honorary appointments,have expressed lack of knowledge about this proposal.

Musical Chairs

Joint Director of CBI Rishi Raj Singh,who had been investigating the Adarsh Housing Scam,has been transferred to zone II of the agency in Mumbai. This zone is handling the Sohrabuddin encounter case. An IPS officer of 1985 batch,Singh belonged to zone I which had recently filed a chargesheet against former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh case. Singh has been replaced with Keshav Kumar,though he has been given additional charge. Kumar 1986 batch also handles Technical Forensic and Coordination at the CBI headquarters in Delhi. Meanwhile,the CBI is grappling with vacancies in Chennai with Joint Director Ashok Kumar being repatriated to his parent Tamil Nadu cadre. DIG-level officer Sumit Sharan,also from TN cadre,has met with the same fate.

Turf Confusion

The government has finally confirmed that terror suspect Fasih Mehmood,an engineer from Bihar,was in custody in Saudi Arabia,and Home Minister P Chidambaram said efforts were being made to bring him home. However,the Home Ministry,Foreign Ministry and the CBI are learnt to be debating with each other over who should file a reply before the Supreme Court about Fasihs whereabouts. His wife has moved the SC asking the government to produce her husband. She had held intelligence agencies under the MHA responsible for Fasihs disappearance.

Second Guess

There is considerable interest in knowing about the new number two in the Union Cabinet after the departure of Pranab Mukherjee. But true to its character,this government,instead of clarifying the matter,has added to the suspense. The list of ministers on the website of the Prime Ministers Office is in the order of precedence and is an authentic way to find out who the new number two is. Earlier,Mukherjee used to top the list followed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Defence Minister A K Antony. In a bizarre move,the entire list went missing from the website on Thursday. The list of MoS Independent charge and the MoS remained intact. The government clearly does not seem to have made up its mind to designate Pawar,a non-Congress leader,as the number two,or push Antony,a trusted Congressman,up the order.

Secret Gameplan

The BJP had calculated its moves well in its attempt to embarrass Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee. It knew about his office of profit at the Indian Statistical Institute but did not raise its objections till July 2,the day the scrutiny of nominations got over,because till that day Mukherjee could have resigned as he became a formal candidate only after scrutiny. But the BJP clearly did not want to make an early move. So much was the secrecy that even the BJD and AIADMK,the two other parties opposing Mukherjees candidacy,and Mukherjees rival candidate P A Sangma were informed about the game plan on July 2. The moment the deadline for scrutiny was over,the BJP raised its objection,asking for Mukherjees disqualification,little realising that he had put in his papers long back.