Rising Stars

Rahuls personal assistant Kanishka Singh continues to call the shots at Tughlaq Lane.

Rising Stars

With Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi maintaining a separate secretariat at his official residence at 12,Tughlaq Lane,Congress office-bearers at the party headquarters at 24,Akbar Road,have been left speculating and guessing about the rising and sinking stars at his office. Rahuls personal assistant Kanishka Singh continues to call the shots at Tughlaq Lane,although Rahul has chosen to keep him out of internal party meetings involving senior leaders. Kanishkas visits to the party headquarters are limited to treasurer Motilal Voras room. Union minister of state Jitendra Singh maintains a low profile,although he is said to be the one executing Rahuls political vision. Jairam Ramesh continues to be Rahuls speech-writer as well as guide and guru in matters of governance and politics,according to those associated with the union minister. But there are a host of new faces at Rahuls office,and each time they call up party functionaries,Congress leaders swing into action trying to gather details about the background and links of these rising stars. But,from Kanishka to Sachin Rao to Harish Choudhury to Kaushal Vidyarthi,the callers change so often that party functionaries are finding it difficult to do quick background checks. Maybe Rahul should think of a familiarisation exercise.

Stage fright

Before praising the partys prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for making Gujarat the first state to provide electricity to all its citizens,BJP patriarch L K Advani is learnt to have got his facts checked. Advani,who also praised the partys other two chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raman Singh for their electrification programmes,wanted to make sure that no Congress-ruled state had achieved this feat. Meanwhile,the Congress had reason to worry as senior party leader Ajit Jogis wife,Renu,was seated on the stage with Advani at a function to lay the foundation stone for an irrigation project. Jogi has been sulking as the party high command is reluctant to give him a free run in the state.

In defence

The second highest ranking officer of the Armys Judge Advocate General JAG branch has made an interesting plea in his petition to the government for a promotion. Brig T Prashad,whose appointment as a Maj Gen in the JAG branch had been quashed by the Armed Forces Tribunal,has claimed in his petition that he was personally interacting with chief justices of high courts and AFT members which helped in furthering organisational interest. He claimed that he carried out these interactions in as many as seven states.

Jamia race

IPS Officer K Saleem Ali,who has been probing the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case,is tipped to be in the race for the post of Jamia Millia Islamia Vice-Chancellor. The post fell vacant after Najeeb Jung was appointed Delhis Lieutenant Governor. A seasoned police officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre,Ali is serving as CBI special director at present,where he is handling important cases including the Mulayam Singh assets probe and rail bribery case. The 1978-batch officer is set to retire in November this year,but if his name is cleared for the V-Cs post,he may choose to retire earlier.