Paperless notice

Suspended TMC MP Kunal Ghosh has said he never got a chance to explain himself to the party because he did not get any showcause notice.

Paperless notice

Suspended Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh has said he never got a chance to explain himself to the party because he did not get any showcause notice,despite claims to the contrary by senior party leaders. Party MP Somen Mitras wife and MLA Shikha Mitra,who has spoken against Mamata Banerjees style of functioning too,is also yet to get the notice,although the partys second-in-command,Mukul Roy,claimed that it had been sent. Recently,when Mitra asked a senior leader close to Banerjee about the notice,she was reportedly told that there is no appointment letter and no showcause notice in Banerjees party. There is no paper trail when it comes to Mamatas wishes,say party insiders.

Gang of three

When Lalu Prasad Yadav was the president of the Patna University Students Union,Sushil Modi was the general secretary and Ravi Shankar Prasad the assistant general secretary. All of them participated in the JP movement their slogan was bhrashtachar mitana hai,naya Bihar banana hai (end corruption for a new Bihar). They later went their separate ways. Sushil Modi was one of the applicants who filed a PIL against Lalu for a CBI inquiry into the fodder scam. Ravi Shankar Prasad argued for Sushil Modi and got the court to direct a CBI inquiry. With the court convicting Lalu on Monday,their earlier slogan seems to have borne fruit. On the day of the verdict,Prasad was in Munger represented by another petitioner,Rajiv Singh Lalan of JD(U),in LS for a mass mobilisation programme against the JD(U).

stage managing

BJPs PM candidate Narendra Modi and in-charge of the partys Delhi elections Nitin Gadkari were said to have decided that the stage should not be crowded at Sundays rally. A junior party functionary,Vani Tripathi,party national secretary,however,managed to secure a seat on the dais and an opportunity to address the gathering as well. This appeared to have inspired some other junior office-bearers to try to get on the stage also. One office-bearer,who is also a talking head of the party,sought to flaunt her credentials for a seat but was learnt to have been snubbed. The whole issue has led to severe heartburn in the party.

Friendly neighbour

Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina werent the only leaders from the neighbourhood who met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York. Singh also met Khila Raj Regmi,who doubles as both the head of the interim government and Chief Justice of Nepal. With polls due in Nepal,Regmi received a lot of flak from his countrymen for going to New York. But defying criticism,he stuck to the visit. As it turns out,his key objective was to meet Singh and secure Indias support. India conveyed appreciation for his role and told him he should go ahead with the polls as scheduled and not heed calls for postponement.

Bidding farewell

A significant part of Rural Development Secretary S Vijay Kumars last day in the ministry on Monday was spent at Vigyan Bhawan,attending an international event. In fact,Vijay Kumars last few days in office turned out to be quite hectic,as he took part in discussions and interacted with delegates from Asia Pacific countries who were here for the event. Senior IAS officer L C Goyal,who was earlier Special Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat,will take over as Rural Development Secretary.