No Surprise

If anything,the government was actually expecting this sort of statement from Dharamsala.

No Surprise

The Dalai Lamas announcement over the weekend that his reincarnation would not be decided till he turned 90 has not come as a surprise to the Indian establishment. If anything,the government was actually expecting this sort of statement from Dharamsala. That is because the Dalai Lama,through interlocutors,had taken care to inform Indian officials a few months back that his views on reincarnation were likely to be made public in September. It was done to ensure that New Delhi was not caught off-guard when the announcement is finally made.

Working Video

The stand-off at its Manesar plant is hurting the image of Maruti. To contain the damage and counter misinformation being spread against it,the company has put a video on YouTube that seeks to put facts in the public domain. Shot early this month,the nearly six-minute video in Hindi is titled Sachai ko Janiye Maruti Suzuki Manesar Plant. It shows normal assembly line production happening at the plant with the help of more than 1,400 employees,it claims,staying at the temporary accommodation provided within the premises of the unit. Maruti,the video claims,is making every effort to ensure a safe and congenial atmosphere for its employees to work. The video signs off by saluting the workers.

Solid Backing

DESPITE a host of senior leaders from Tamil Nadu complaining against him to Congress president Sonia Gandhi for his disruptive role in the last Lok Sabha election,state Congress chief K V Thangkabalu appears to have got a reprieve from the party high command. He was appointed a member of the Coordination Committee constituted by Sonia for local bodies elections in the state next month. Thangkabalus survival is attributed to the dogged backing of the PCC chief by AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad. P Chidambaram,G K Vasan and Jayanthi Natarajan are among the other members of the committee,which also includes state Youth Congress president M Yuvraj.

Local beats Global

WITH state elections round the corner,rallies and nukkad meetings naturally take precedence over UN sessions in New York. And so it has happened with Akhilesh Yadav,son of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh. Akhilesh was supposed to be part of an delegation of MPs that was scheduled to participate in one of the events at the UN in the first-half of October. But with the father urging him to concentrate on the upcoming polls,he is learnt to have excused himself from the trip to New York. Instead,he will continue with his tour of Uttar Pradesh which he had started earlier this month.

No Breakthroughs

WITH a definite breakthrough into the September 7 blast still eluding the National Investigation Agency,the top brass is said to be a worried lot. Director General S C Sinha himself is said to be personally monitoring the investigations. And unmindful of the hierarchies that exist in a government set-up,he is freely mingling with the junior staff these days and encouraging them to pursue the case meticulously.