Swamy and Friends

Her appointment had come as something of a surprise. Now senior Congress leaders are puzzled by the continuance of Renuka Choudhary as the party spokesperson given her penchant for wisecracks coupled with banality when it comes to serious issues. When there were questions about Rahul Gandhi’s silence on Anna Hazare’s campaign,she explained he was not a “tota (parrot)”. The other day,she caused blushes in the party as she drew out an analogy of a wife-beater to explain why Pranab Mukherjee was not denying reports about his resignation. “It’s like asking whether you have beaten your wife,yes or no?” she said. A regular on TV channels these days,she often loses her temper whenever confronted with solid arguments. Many senior leaders find her a “PR disaster” for the ruling party and some of them have even cautioned her,but Choudhary has not allowed their reasoning to change her impulsive style.

Phantom Twitter

While his counterpart in the Lok Sabha,Sushma Swaraj,is a frequent user of Twitter,the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley,has vowed never to succumb to this increasingly popular mode of communication. His problem,though,is that someone has already opened an account in his name and begun sending out tweets. A harassed Jaitley has been receiving messages on his phone responding to his tweets. Recently,the fake Arun Jaitley tweeted that he would be visiting the residence of Rajbala,the woman who died recently as a result of injuries sustained during police action on Baba Ramdev’s gathering sometime back,to express condolences to her family. Jaitley has been forced to respond that he has no such plans. He now wants to take action against the person who has been impersonating him on the Twitter.

London and Lalu

During the presentations made by the CVC and CBI on Friday to the Standing Committee which is discussing the Lokpal issue,there were quite a few references to anti-corruption provisions in the British law. It prompted a light remark from Lalu Prasad,a member of the committee,who suggested that a sitting of the committee in London would possibly help the members understand the issue better.

Intelligence gathering

The recent blast outside the Delhi High Court has proven a problem for law enforcement agencies with no solid breakthroughs in the case and pressure from political bosses. The current political instability in the country is not helping matters at all for the agencies involved in counter terror operations. The Intelligence Bureau held a lengthy brainstorming session over the weekend to assess the security situation. It invited some of its former officers and outside experts as well to deliberate on the steps that need to be taken to keep up the vigil.