Premature prediction

On Sunday,BJP leader L K Advani had predicted a non-BJP,non-Congress Prime Minister after the next general election

On Sunday,BJP leader L K Advani had predicted a non-BJP,non-Congress Prime Minister after the next general election. On Monday,Trinamool Congress put a name to it: Mamata Banerjee,quite obviously. Party leader Sudip Bandopadhyay said the Trinamool would like to see all the 42 seats from West Bengal in Mamatas command in the next general election,thus fueling speculation that it would sever its alliance with the Congress ahead of 2014. Then he was asked about the possible non-Congress,non-BJP Prime Ministerial candidate that Advani has talked about,and pat came the response: Mamata Banerjee has all the qualities that people in the country would want in a good PM. But,within hours,Bandopadhyay was clarifying that his Mamata-for-PM statement was only a reflection of his own views on the qualities that a Prime Minister is expected to have. And,as for the 2014 elections,the party was yet to take any decision.

Ill Timed

ONE of the at least a dozen IAS officers who have not been reporting for work for several years and are therefore deemed to have resigned,has surfaced to tell the government that he must not be terminated from service. Alok Khare,a 1992 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre,has informed the DoPT that he had not gone missing but was undergoing medical treatment at Kanpur. Khare was granted a two-year study leave on July 25,2002 to pursue a PhD programme in the US. Since January 2009,government records show him to be on unauthorised absence. The DoPT recently initiated a deemed resignation process against him,but he got to know and wrote to the department informing him about his illness. He also claimed that he had applied for an extension of leave in May this year.

Aborted Mission

MEA officials on the way to attend a NAM ministerial committee on Palestine,which was to meet in Ramallah,had to cancel their visit mid-way. The delegation had reached Amman in Jordan,when they came to know that officials from five countries which do not have diplomatic relations with Israel would not be allowed to enter the West Bank by Israel. New Delhi has diplomatic relations with Israel and as such Indian officials could have gone to the meeting venue without any hassles,but the Israeli position forced the meeting to be called off. New Delhi has taken strong objection to the Israeli stand,especially in light of the fact that the decision to hold this meeting in Ramallah had been taken in May. MEA officials said the incident would only strengthen New Delhis resolve to assist the Palestinian people in their right to statehood.

Late Arrivals

THE BJP MPs from Gujarat were conspicuous by their absence in BJPs parliamentary party meeting on the eve of the Vice-Presidential election on Tuesday. They were learnt to have been preoccupied with another meeting,this one called by Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad to chart out the partys strategy for the forthcoming Assembly elections. Since the Ahmedabad meeting was held late in the afternoon,the MPs from the state were rushing to New Delhi by the evening flight to be at least present for voting in the Vice-Presidential poll. The New Delhi meeting had little to discuss though,with the party president Nitin Gadkari himself arriving late,leaving little time for planning any strategy. NDAs Vice-Presidential candidate Jaswant Singh did not attend the meeting,or the subsequent dinner thrown for NDA allies,as he reached Delhi late from Chennai where he had gone to meet AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa. None of the AIADMK MPs were present at the NDA dinner.