Mani talks

Mani Shankar Aiyar is not one to let an ideological opponent get away with an argument unchallenged.

Written by Express News Service

November 8, 2011 02:48 AM IST

4 min read

Mani Shankar Aiyar is not one to let an ideological opponent get away with an argument unchallenged. Not even at a function where he is not a speaker but the host. Aiyar had recently invited Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to deliver the V Sankar Aiyar memorial lecture,which is instituted in the name of his father. Knowing that the occasion was such that Ahluwalia would have the final word,Aiyar decided to have his say first. He made a scathing attack on those advocating the principle of economic growth at all costs,before offering the floor to Ahluwalia who ended up countering the criticisms of market economy in his lecture.

Seating Order

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees increasing discomfort with her party colleague and Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedis attempts at building a profile for himself is being talked about openly these days. And Trivedi himself is not oblivious to the mood of his party boss. At the recent meeting of the National Development Council,Trivedi acted quickly in order to avoid displeasing Banerjee again. He was originally scheduled to be seated on the dais with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and several other ministers. But realising that Banerjee would be seated in the audience below,Trivedi decided to get his seat shifted to the audience as well. And he ensured that his new seat was at least one row behind that of his boss.

Lacking Culture

The Culture Ministry is said to be surprised at being left out of an inter-ministerial committee set up by the Prime Minister recently to coordinate policy decisions in the tourism sector. The committee has representation from almost every other ministry or department that has any role to play in promoting tourism. The Culture Ministry has extremely close linkages with the Tourism Ministry and very often these two are put under the charge of the same minister. While the committee does have the powers to co-opt any other member as and when considered necessary,officials in the Culture Ministry are left wondering how it could have escaped the attention of the Prime Ministers Office.

Real Life Role

Call it a part of his Dalit outreach. Hours after he met a delegation of non-Jatav Dalits from Uttar Pradesh and heard their complaints about being ignored by the BSP regime,Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi was watching a movie,Miley Na Miley Hum,starring Chirag,son of erstwhile alliance partner Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan at a South Delhi multiplex. He watched the movie along with the Paswan family. Chirag raved about how Rahul appreciated the social message in his movie and liked the song and dance sequences. The event has already set tongues wagging about Paswans role in Rahuls Mission 2012 in Uttar Pradesh.

Open Secrets

With the Joint Parliamentary Committee seeking all official documents,including communication between senior government functionaries,related to the 2G spectrum scam,Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Pulok Chatterji recently called a high-level meeting to discuss whether it was advisable to make everything available to the committee. Cabinet Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth and Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati were present at the meeting. It was decided that since most of the documents had already come out in the public domain through RTI,there was no reason to hold back any information from the JPC. In fact,the officials are believed to have decided that the government should place as much information as possible before the JPC.

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Delhi Confidential