Minority Retort

It was left to Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh to calm the frayed tempers.

Minority Retort

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal was not present but that did not stop a group of people representing minority education institutions in Uttar Pradesh from venting their anger against the education policies of the Central government at a function at the India Islamic Cultural Centre. It was left to Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh to calm the frayed tempers. Sensing the possible repercussions of such anger in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh,Digvijaya made a strong defence of Sibal. HRD is a huge sea. Some issues may not get attention of Sibal,but please do not doubt his intentions. He is a secular person, he said. He then managed to get the audience on his side by stating that he was in favour of carving out a 7 per cent sub-quota for economically backward Muslims in the OBC reservation quota.

Trust Deficit

THINGS have never been the same in the Public Accounts Committee after the showdown that Congress MPs had with chairman Murli Manohar Joshi a few months ago when the controversial report on 2G spectrum allocation was sought to be finalised. The attacks and counter-attacks have not stopped since,leading to PAC meetings being held in an atmosphere of distrust and hurling of charges against each other. Joshi has now written to Leader of the Lok Sabha,Pranab Mukherjee,reportedly complaining about the behaviour of Congress members. The matter was also raised by leaders of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley when they met Mukherjee on Tuesday and he is said to have assured them that the matter would be looked into.

Signs of the Times

WITH the bids for the 10 billion MMRCA fighter jet contract under consideration of the government,even the slightest moves of the key decision-makers are watched keenly and assigned larger meanings. Air Chief

N A K Browne was the chief guest at a private function recently where the guests participated in a lucky draw. One of the winners received a model of the French Rafale fighter aircraft from Browne as the prize,raising quite a few eyebrows. The Rafale is engaged in a keenly-contested battle with Eurofighter for the MMRCA deal that is on the verge of being decided.

Covering Up

LAST weeks SAARC summit in Maldives had the Pakistan delegation under quite some stress. It was not just the meeting with the Indian Prime Minister that kept them on the edge. The official delegation found to its utter discomfort that the bathrooms in the beach-side resort did not have a roof. It was an open-air bathroom. Lest any untoward incident took place,arrangements were made to cover those bathrooms temporarily with sheets. A perturbed Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir even told Pakistani journalists in Maldives that he was not really enjoying the natural bath in his hotel and was careful not to shed all his clothing during the bath. The Indian diplomats have been tight-lipped about what they did about the situation,but the buzz is that they too addressed the anxiety of the dignitaries by arranging temporary covers.

Dialogue Resumed

AFTER resuming defence exchanges that had been affected by the refusal of Beijing to allow a visit by an Indian Army delegation led by the Northern Army Commander,the formal defence dialogue is back on track. The latest round of the Annual Defence Dialogue is set to take place in New Delhi on December 9. The Chinese delegation will be led by Lt Gen Ma Xiaotian,Deputy Chief of Staff of the Peoples Liberation Army.