Power saving

After the Babu Singh Kushwaha episode,the BJP seems to have scored another self-goal with its comment on Rahul Gandhi’s unmarried status. An editorial in party journal Kamal Sandesh has this to say about Rahul: “Himself unsettled in life till date,Rahul appears tense even more in having failed to rescue Congress from its imminent decline…” This from a party whose entire organisational structure is run by ‘pracharaks’ — mandated to stay bachelors — loaned from the RSS. But more than that,the author of the editorial seems to have overlooked the fact that the party’s most celebrated leader in recent times,former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee,was also a bachelor. Seems the party has developed a habit of tying itself in knots.

Rebel Rousing

The Congress is almost certain that when the results of the Assembly elections are announced on March 6,at least in Punjab,it would have made its way back to power. But before that,there is another date the party is watching very keenly. January 16 happens to be the last date for withdrawal of nominations in the state which goes to polls on January 20. The party has identified about 40 serious rebel candidates in the fray. It is waiting to see how many of them finally choose to contest. The party’s prospects depend substantially on whether these rebels withdraw from the contest or not. It is worried also because of the fact that not more than 25 serious rebel candidates have come from the side of the Shiromani Akali Dal.

Top Cops

With his appointment as Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Home Ministry,the prospects of Ajay Chaddha taking over from B K Gupta as Delhi Police Commissioner have slimmed down considerably. Gupta is due for retirement in a few weeks and Chadda,a 1977-batch UT-cadre IPS officer who was serving as Special Commissioner (Administration) in Delhi Police,was tipped to take over. His appointment in the Home Ministry has brightened the chances of Neeraj Kumar,Director General of Tihar jail,of becoming Delhi Police Commissioner. Kumar has served at various top positions in Delhi Police and is credited with organising the Commonwealth games. He is due for retirement in 2013 around the same time that Chaddha also retires.

Vaastu Compliant

2011 has not been an easy year for Kapil Sibal. While he has gained prominence within the government,he has also had to take a lot of flak. Which is probably the reason that he is turning to vaastu. More than a year after taking charge of the Telecom Ministry,Sibal has felt the need to re-do his office to make it vaastu-compliant. His wife had recently visited his office in Sanchar Bhawan along with a vaastu expert to re-design the office. The re-designing work is on.