Mandsaur to WEF

Whenever she is late for meetings,often presided over by the young AICC general secretary,her common refrain is that it was so difficult to get an auto-rickshaw.

Mandsaur to WEF

She may not have much to show in terms of results as AICC Secretary in charge of NSUI,but Mandsaur MP Meenakshi Natarajan seems to be out to impress Rahul Gandhi with her simplicity and austerity instead. Whenever she is late for meetings,often presided over by the young AICC general secretary,her common refrain is that it was so difficult to get an auto-rickshaw. Her young colleagues are not impressed though. They cannot understand why she prefers to be late at meetings to driving a modest vehicle or even hiring a taxi. That Natarajan has impressed those in the right places though is quite evident. Nothing less than the World Economic Forum WEF has included her among the 12 Indians named as Young Global Leaders YGL this year and will join the 668 outstanding individuals already part of the broader forum of YGLs.

CIC wish list

With several organisations like the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation set to get spanking new headquarters,others like the Central Information Commission are getting short shrift and losing their patience. Since its inception in 2005,the CIC has been shuttled around in unsuitable accommodation and are presently located on half a floor of a commercial complex called August Kranti Bhavan near Bikaji Cama Place. The new CIC,Satyendra Mishra,is understood to have mentioned their pressing need for a suitable headquarters even to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Their other complaints: the CIC does not figure in the Governments order of precedence and there is no designated house for the Governments transparency chief. Meanwhile,the CIC is eying a slice of the CBI headquarters located in CGO complex after the investigating agency moves to their new headquarters. But that may be a case of wishful thinking8230;

BJPs first family strategy

It is perhaps once bitten twice shy for the BJP. Having been embarrassed after L K Advani expressed regret to Sonia Gandhi for a party-appointed task forces allegations against the Congress president and her family in the context of black money,the main opposition today played it safe when it came to reports about Robert Vadras entry into real estate business. The BJP refused to make a major issue out of the revelations,instead merely stating that it was a serious issue and would come out with a reaction after studying the matter. It is believed that the decision to hold fire was taken after some brain-storming by BJP elders. It was also decided that the party should not offer a comment unless prodded by media persons at the routine official briefing.

Bullet Proof?

The defence ministry seems to be at odds with itself on whether the army has enough bullet proof jackets. In Parliament today,in reply to a question by Asaduddin Owaisi,Defence Minister A K Antony said that the army has sufficient bullet proof jackets to meet its operational requirements. This is at odds with the actual figure. For a force of 10 lakh plus,the army has a sanctioned bullet proof jacket stock of 3.5 lakh. The actual number that the army has and can use is just over half of this. This fact was also conveyed to the standing committee on Defence recently.

BJPs Assam dreams

There is a BJP-wave in Assam and the party is set to form its government there! Shocked? Well,rightly so! But BJP spokesman and Bhagalpur MP Shahnawaz Hussain actually made this claim with a straight face. And to cap it all,he did manage to control his smile,but only till somebody made an equally profound point packaged as a counter-question: Like the Congress in Bihar in recent assembly polls?

To contest or not to contest

With the shadow of the palmolein import case looming over the Kerala Assembly elections,Oommen Chandy,who was Finance Minister in Karunakaran government when the decision was taken,is understandably reluctant to contest the election lest it should become a poll plank against the UDF. Chandy has conveyed his decision to the Congress High Command but there is no word on his fate as yet. The Central leadership of the Congress also remains undecided about fielding Union Minister Vayalar Ravis daughter Lakshmi from the Kottayam seat. Although the minister made a hasty retreat following opposition by the Youth Congress,the party leadership maintains that Lakshmi remains in the reckoning. Similarly,the late K Karunakarans daughter Padmaja is also in the race for a party ticket.

DRI tussle

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The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence DRI is grappling with internal tussles these days. It all started after officers at DRI headquarters at New Delhi claimed to have caught huge consignments of heroin first in November last year and then in February this year. Both the consignments were shown to be seized in Delhi with the accused also arrested from the capital. Later it emerged that the contraband was actually seized in Punjab and the arrests were also made there but it was shown to have happened in Delhi because certain senior officers of DRI HQ wanted to reap rewards. The same obviously caused considerable heartburn amongst other counterparts of these officers -also from the Delhi region -and they lost no time in blowing their cover. The DRI ,Delhi Zone is now learnt to have taken up the matter with its Director General while the intelligence officer of DRI Delhi posted at Punjab has also been hauled up for acting in cahoots with the officers of another zone.