Party poopers

Congress party spokesperson and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi hosted a party over the weekend in honour of the five judges who have been elevated to the Supreme Court.

Congress party spokesperson and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi hosted a party over the weekend in honour of the five judges who have been elevated to the Supreme Court. The whos who of the judiciary and the legal fraternity turned out in full force. Among the notable absentees were the father-son duo of Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan,who have caused the government much trouble in recent times. Incidentally,Prashants brother Jayant Bhushan,also a lawyer,was present at the party.

Festival Fever

The Navratra festival in Gujarat,with its Garba Raas and Dandiya dances,are something that very few want to miss. The festival was the reason cited by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for skipping the BJP national executive meet last week. Apart from leading to some resentment within the party leadership and creating the impression of a tussle between him and L K Advani,Modis no-show is having other repercussions as well. Some senior party leaders like Arun Jaitley who were planning to attend some Navratra night functions in Gujarat have had to change their plans. Jaitley in fact conceded recently that he would have to skip his planned visit to Ahmedabad,lest it sent out wrong signals in the party.

Out of Sync

In public,representatives of the Rural Development Ministry and Planning Commission were in perfect harmony on Monday as they got together to try and douse the flames on the controversy around the criteria for defining BPL category. But behind the scenes,the two seem to be out of sync with each other. The Planning Commission wants the Rural Development Ministry which coordinates the BPL survey across the country to also become a party in the pending case in Supreme Court on this issue. It was the Planning Commissions affidavit in this court case that had triggered the controversy. The ministry,however,is learnt to have excused itself,and instead offered its support in framing the responses in court. Last heard,the government was likely to field its seniormost law officer,Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati,at the next hearing of the case later this month. So far the case was being argued by an Additional Solicitor General for the government.

Room for Accommodation

The much-awaited moment when Pulok Chatterji took over as the new Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister turned out to be a quiet affair. There was no ceremony and no sound-bytes. The man he replaces,T K A Nair,who has been appointed as Advisor,has moved to the first floor of the Prime Ministers Office,in a room that was previously occupied by Shyam Saran in his role as Special Envoy on Climate Change. Incidentally,the room used to serve as a waiting room for guests before it was refurbished for Saran. It had gone back to being a waiting room after Saran quit last year and has now been done up again to accommodate Nair.