New York calling

After his trip to Bangladesh next week,the Prime Minister has another important foreign engagement coming up in September.

After his trip to Bangladesh next week,the Prime Minister has another important foreign engagement coming up in September. Manmohan Singh is likely to travel to New York to attend the UN General Assembly session this year,something he has not done for the last couple of years. The Prime Ministers visit to the UN is significant in light of the fact that India currently has the presidency of the Security Council.

Earlier Escape

About two years before Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy died in a helicopter crash,he and Congress general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad had a close shave in Jammu amp; Kashmir where the then Andhra CM had gone on a vacation along with his family. Recalling the incident at a function to release a pictorial book on YSR on Tuesday,Azad said that they were on their way to Gulmarg when their helicopter got trapped in dark clouds. They had a lucky escape as the pilot avoided taking any chance and returned to Srinagar.

Calling Cards

Law Minister Salman Khurshid was surprised to receive an early morning call from Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi wishing him Eid Mubarak. Slightly taken aback,since Modi had never called him on earlier occasions,Khurshid politely took the call. Later,he also got a call from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati. Though they are bitter political rivals in the state,Mayawati has made it a point to remember him on this occasion every year.

Straight Bat

Amidst the vociferous opposition to the Sports Bill at Tuesdays Cabinet meeting by ministers running various sports federations,what stood out was Pranab Mukherjees silence. The veteran politician spoke only when the Prime Minister asked for his opinion. To everyones amusement,Mukherjee said he had once been asked to administer cricket in West Bengal but had declined saying he did not even know how to hold a bat. On a more serious note,Mukherjee is learnt to have said that the government would find it difficult to get the Bill passed in Parliament even if the Cabinet approved it. He was clearly pointing to the fact that the Congress would not even be able to bank on the support of its key allies on this issue,leave alone that of the Opposition. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had hinted this in as many words saying he would take up this issue at a political level within the UPA.

Staffing Problems

Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan has been struggling to get the personal staff of her choice. She had selected a young IAS officer of Haryana cadre as her private secretary,but he survived just one day in office. She next zeroed in on an officer from the Securities and Exchange Board of India SEBI for that position but that request was turned down by SEBI itself. It now emerges that the appointment of the only officer in her personal staff as of now a former MLA from Tamil Nadu who is serving as an Officer on Special Duty OSD to the minister is also in trouble. It is learnt that the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has objected to the appointment of this lady as the OSD on the present terms and conditions. The ACC,though,has told Natarajan that she was free to appoint her as an Advisor.

Arresting Development

In this anti-corruption season,it is easy to become known as a crusader. Manjeet Singh,who was arrested by the police for shouting slogans in Parliament House last week,returned to his native Rohtak shortly after to a rousing welcome. He was garlanded and mobbed by the locals who hailed him as an anti-corruption hero. His only claim to fame he removed his shirt in the Parliament complex to show I am Anna written on his vest and shouted Inquilab Zindabad after which he was arrested.