Shunted out

Railway Minister Mukul Roy is planning to show his magnanimous side. As a cabinet minister without an official bungalow

RAILWAY Minister Mukul Roy is planning to show his magnanimous side. As a cabinet minister without an official bungalow,Roy is entitled to two flats in the MPs apartments near the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital. The two adjoining flats C-4 and D-4 are allotted in his name,though he hardly uses them considering his only occasional presence in the capital. In fact,he prefers to stay at the party office at 181,South Avenue. With there being a shortage of accommodation for MPs,Roy is apparently considering surrendering the D-4 flat. The other one,C-4,is used by his party chief Mamata Banerjee whenever she comes to Delhi.

Model Campaign

THOSE who had assumed that the presidential contest between Pranab Mukherjee and P A Sangma would be no more than a token fight are now getting increasingly surprised over the manner in which Sangma is exerting himself. Even discounting the mess that the office-of-profit issue has landed Mukherjee in,Sangmas campaign seems to have a more professional look and feel,no doubt with overt support from the BJP. For instance,Sangmas campaign team has launched a website,www.sangmaforpresident.com,much on the lines of http://www.advaniforpm.com website that was launched during the 2009 general elections in support of L K Advanis candidature for prime ministership. Considering what happened to the BJP in that election,it would probably have been more advisable for Sangma to look for an alternative model for his website.

Breaking News

THE head of Doordarshan has been divested of his authority of allocating programmes for the prime time slot. Acting on some complaints of alleged favouritism being shown in the allotment of slots to certain producers,Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar is learnt to have taken the matter in his own hands. Doordarshan insiders point out that this is just one example of the new CEO tightening the screws on the functioning of All India Radio and Doordarshan. A couple of days back,he took everyone by surprise by walking into the DD newsroom unannounced. He is also learnt to have admonished the head of DD News channel and asked him to improve performance.

Courting Candidates

WHILE the government has reappointed six of its Additional Solicitors General,this has only partially solved its problem. The law officers for the Allahabad High Court and for the south have still not been appointed,apparently because of pressure from different parties of the ruling alliance. While the government seems to have made up its mind to replace Ashok Nigam from the Allahabad High Court,it is not having its way in the south. Key UPA ally DMK wants a candidate of its choice while the Congress is backing incumbent,M Ravindran,for an extension. The ASG for south India is in charge of the high courts in Tamil Nadu,Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka,and the Congress clearly does not want to risk giving that job to someone who does not enjoy its trust.