Mystery date

With the fragile security situation in the neighbourhood,the date for Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs visit to Afghanistan was kept under wraps till the last moment

Mystery date

With the fragile security situation in the neighbourhood,the date for Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs visit to Afghanistan was kept under wraps till the last moment. Initially,a date in the first week of May had been worked out,but then it was deferred. The second date was also kept a secret,so much so that Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao who was on a foreign visit was asked to rush to Delhi over the weekend for consultations. She had wrapped up her visit to France and was scheduled to travel to Turkey. She left for Turkey after spending a day in the capital.

AILMENT AND CURE

At a time when he should be off to the World Assembly in Geneva to update himself on future international strategies to cope with serious diseases,Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has chosen to stay back. The reason: Azad has to contend with the many ills afflicting the Congress in Tamil Nadu which recently went to the polls. However,the moot point is that most of the problems of the Congress in the state are sourced to PCC chief K V Thangabalu,who is the protege of none other than Azad himself. The source of the ailment is also providing the cure.

REPLACEMENT COPS

There has been a reshuffle at the top-level of the Special Crime Unit of the CBI which is handling high-profile cases like the Mecca Masjid bombings,Aarushi-Hemraj murder case and the Ruchika Girhotra case. The reason: the units joint director is heading for a two-and-a-half-month training course. DIG Satish Golcha,who was heading the Special Crime Unit,has been replaced by Joint Director R P Agarwal. A 1986-batch officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre,Agarwal will now head the special crime unit while Golcha,a 1992-batch AGMU cadre officer will be heading first to Hyderabad and then London for his training.

SELF-GOAL?

The opposition Congress in Punjab has been going after the ruling SAD-BJP combine on the issue of corruption in a major way. In fact,Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh has been repeatedly saying that corruption would be a major issue in next years Assembly elections. However,by appointing controversial former MLA from Sangrur,Arvind Khanna,who was recently chargesheeted by the CBI for violating the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act,as one of the general secretaries,the Congress might have scored a self-goal. Some of the party leaders are surprised at the inclusion of Khanna,who is known more for his proximity to Amarinder than his party work. Amarinder is also said to be trying to ensure that Khanna is given a ticket for the next elections from either Sangrur or Dera Bassi.

NO GO OR GO?

Should it be Go and Dont Go,or should it be Go-No Go? The grammatical status of the controversial policy promoted by Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to segregate areas where coal mining should be done and not done apparently was a matter of concern in the coal ministry some time back. Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal,who belongs to the Hindi heartland and represents Kanpur in the Lok Sabha,apparently wanted a translation of the note prepared on the policy in Hindi. After racking their brains over the issue,officials finally sent him the draft note with the policy getting translated as Ja-Na Ja policy.