Office Politics

Ever since Mamata Banerjee joined Facebook,a large number of small-time Trinamool Congress leaders from the districts have started opening their individual accounts on the social networking site. In fact,Trinamool whole-timers,including those in its students unions in colleges and universities,form a large chunk of the over one lakh likes that Mamatas Facebook page has received. Many such followers are now posting comments asking Mamata to visit their areas. A number of them are introducing themselves as hardworking party workers. What is more,a few followers have also asked for jobs,hoping to catch the attention of the Chief Minister. Most of them seem unaware that Mamata hardly gets time to monitor her Facebook account. It is the partys hyperactive web team led by a party MP that does most of the postings,with Didis permission,of course.

Core Questions

Though part of the core committee of India Against Corruption,Medha Patkar is not so enthusiastic about Team Annas decision to launch itself into active politics. She feels Team Anna may find the going tough against the money and muscle power of other political parties in an election. There is a reason for her pessimism. She herself had tried to take this route trying to cleanse the system from within that she now concedes has not proved to be much of a success in the past. In 2004,when she had formed the Peoples Political Front and toyed with the idea of contesting against Shiv Senas Suresh Prabhu from Rajapur Lok Sabha constituency,her attempts to get the backing of the Congress had drawn a blank. She was forced to drop the idea of contesting an election. Some time later,she fielded some candidates in panchayat elections but all of them lost. Thus ended her experiment with electoral politics.

Law of Clout

Senior advocates Paras Kohad and Rakesh Khanna are all set to become additional solicitors general of India,and would represent the Union government in the Supreme Court. While Kohad shifted to New Delhi some time back from Jaipur where he used to run a law firm,Khannas name is apparently being pushed by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar. Kumar is learnt to have personally put in a word with Law Minister Salman Khurshid. It is an open secret that most of the law officers,who were appointed last month,owe their jobs to powerful backers in the establishment.

Gehlots Problems

The cloud of last years Gopalgarh incident continues to linger over his regime and now Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot finds himself in fresh trouble. A sizeable number of partymen from the state are blowing the bugle of rebellion against him. In fact,a senior party leader recently handed over a bunch of papers to Rahul Gandhi,claiming that they contained documentary evidence of the irregularities that the Gehlot government was indulging in. While the Congress high command has said nothing in this regard,Gehlot has some active supporters in Delhi who are arguing that there is no alternative to him in Rajasthan.