Mamatas wake-up call

SUCH is the nature of political opportunism. When credit was due,the BJP always criticised Shyam Saran,Prime Ministers Special Envoy on Climate Change. The party had not been happy with the way he negotiated the civil nuclear cooperation agreement with the US,and attacked him for the way he had handled the Nepal crisis in 2007. But now that Saran has decided to leave the PMO,the BJP sees in him an honest advisor who always had the countrys interests in mind and has questioned the government as to why it had forced a situation wherein the former foreign secretary had to resign.

Nights right

WHILE the Congresss preference for late-night deliberations and decisions is well known,Oscar Fernandes perhaps best embodies this party culture. At a dinner hosted by Ludhiana MP Manish Tiwari at India International Centre last Friday,Fernandes was the last to reach. He turned up around midnight,looking all fresh and ebullient. Soon he was recalling how the late Rajiv Gandhi once sat for 72 hours without a break to finalise party candidates for an Assembly election. Other leaders involved in the exercise were completely exhausted and appealed to him to take a break,but Rajiv apparently insisted that if he took a break,he would not wake up. As Fernandes recounted old days,somebody pointed out that the former Union minister had once asked a visitor to meet him at 1,and that it was only later that the visitor realised that he meant 1 am. Fernandes contended,with a genial smile: Actually,it was the last appointment.

On a song

THE Hindi film song Zindagi,kaisi hai paheli hai8230;,which Nitin Gadkari sang on the sidelines of the BJP national council session in Indore,is an all-time favourite of the BJP president. He sang the same song at a reunion of the alumni of Dadasaheb Dhanwate Nagar Vidyalaya at Nagpur three years ago. The wide TV coverage of Gadkaris rendition of the Anand film song has done him one damage though his friends are sure to beseech him to sing some other song at their next re-union.

A small world

VILASRAO Deshmukh and Shivraj Patil have competed hard and long for the same political space in their home district Latur in Maharashtra,but ironically now,the Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises has his rival to thank for ending his wait for a suitable residence in the Capital. Now the Governor of Punjab,former home minister Patil is set to vacate his 4,Janpath residence for Deshmukh. However,Deshmukhs immediate neighbour would be another old rival,Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

The other Alva

CONGRESSMEN know Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva for her stern,almost convent headmistress-ish image. Recently though,she revealed her soft side when she met old-time parliamentary colleague George Fernandes,who now suffers from Alzheimers disease. Hearing that the JDU leader had come to Baba Ramdevs ashram in Dehradun for treatment,Alva went to the ashram to meet him. Talking to him in Konkani,she invited him over to the Raj Bhavan for dinner. Discarding gubernatorial niceties and protocol,she then got down to cooking a Mangalorean meal for him herself. Fernandes is said to have relished the food.

Forked tongues

IN PREVIOUS times,few could have got away with calling RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav a snake without being bitten in the process. But these are not previous times. So Lalu has chosen to keep quiet as ally Ram Vilas Paswan remarks sometimes in his presence that both Lalu and Nitish are snakes for upper castes. But the difference is that Lalu is poisonless while Nitish has poison. The LJP chief hopes to wean away the upper castes from Nitish with remarks such as this. With Assembly polls near,Lalu is apparently willing to swallow the same and take his chances.

Showers hit flowers

THE Rashtrapati Bhavan Mughal Garden was not as much a delight this time as it opened to the public earlier this month. The reason being the sudden unseasonal showers that had caused its bevy of tulips to wither. The Botanist in Chief at Presidents House Christie Fernandes must sure be disappointed. The Horticulture Department,however,says the tulips will soon be in full bloom with the weather looking up.

Another hit for Tharoor

HAVING given ample evidence of his strong attacks and solid defence,Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor put the skills to good use in another sphere on Sunday. A diplomat turned politician,Tharoor led an MEA team to win in a friendly cricket match against the British High Commission. A spin bowler,he took two wickets,though he scored only one run,while constantly updating the match score on yes Twitter. The MEA team had top bureaucrats as well as junior officers rubbing shoulders on the ground. Match over,Tharoor was back on Twitter,calling it his Lagaan moment.

Double blow for Shah

Former Delhi Chief Justice A P Shah,who retired a hurt man early this month after he was denied elevation to the Supreme Court,is likely to lose out on an important post-retirement job too. Not wishing to annoy the SC collegium that decided Shah shouldnt be elevated despite his good track record,the government has quietly dropped the plan to make him Chairman of the Law Commission of India,which is headless since July last year. Former SC judge P V Reddy is set to be appointed to the post. Earlier,a move to appoint Shah as head of the panel on Telangana was also junked by the Union government.