No more Modi-bashing

Except Congress spokesperson Renuka Choudharys casual remark Modi doosron ko topi pehnate hain party leaders have refrained from raking up this issue.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modis refusal to wear a skull cap,offered by a Muslim cleric,during his Sadbhavana fast may have taken some sheen off his celebrated exercise,but the Congress has surprisingly been wary of attacking him on this issue. Except Congress spokesperson Renuka Choudharys casual remark Modi doosron ko topi pehnate hain party leaders have refrained from raking up this issue. As per the assessment of ruling party strategists,an attack on Modi over skull cap issue could result in consolidation of the majority community in his favour. Convinced that Congress president Sonia Gandhis maut-ka-saudagar remark had backfired in the last election,Congressmen are no more willing to play any minority card against Gujarat CM.

Rana wants new trial for himself

CHICAGO: Pakistan-born Canadian Tahawwur Rana,convicted for aiding the banned LeT terror group in a plot to attack a Danish newspaper,has sought a fresh trial,saying he should have been given a separate hearing for charges tied to the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

Rana,50,was acquitted of federal charges that he aided the terrorists who carried out the attacks in Mumbai after an eight-day trial in Chicago earlier this year but was convicted of the Danish plot.

Ranas lawyers,led by defence attorney Patrick Blegen,argue in new federal court filings that Rana should be granted another trial because if the Mumbai evidence was not put before jurors,the panel would not have convicted him on the other counts,said the Chicago Sun-Times daily.

Language barrier

The investigations into the Sadiq Jamaal encounter case of 2003 has hit a speed-breaker with the CBI facing a language barrier in its probe. The controversial encounter was recently handed over to the CBI after which the agency analysed the case documents and found them to be in written in Gujarati. The sleuths of the agency had to hire a translator for converting the documents from Gujarati to Hindi and English,which is taking considerable amount of time. While large number of papers have been translated,a voluminous set of documents still remain.

Kalyans lonely days

Politics is a loners profession,but ironically,it is only the crowd or the lack of it that shows which way a politicians fortune is swinging. No wonder then that one colleague of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh thought that the situation calls for some desperate action. Please do some thing very few people come to see him these days, he was heard telling an old political acquaintance of Kalyan Singh when he went to look him up.

Friendly banter

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The hearing of the 2G spectrum case in the Supreme Court witnessed an interesting banter between main petitioner Subramanian Swamy and CBI counsel K K Venugopal. It was started by Venugopal who claimed that he had always helped Janata Party chief in all his important cases of public interest. Swamy shot back to say that even then Venugopal had always chosen to appear for the wrongdoers,including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. The senior counsel then lamented that this was the way in which Swamy was paying him back for the help. Venugopal,though,acknowledged that Swamy was a quick learner,to which Swamy responded by saying that he had indeed learnt a lot from the senior lawyer.

CAG wants bigger role

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India CAG,whose recent audit reports have caused much political upheaval in the country,now wants to audit the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA. The CAG has presented its candidature to become the external auditor of the Vienna-based body for the period 2012-13.

At the 55th general conference of IAEA,DAE Secretary Srikumar Banerjee requested the member countries to favourably consider the candidature of CAG.