Taking no chances

The finalisation of UPAs candidate for Vice-President is unlikely to involve as much drama as the Presidential candidate did

The finalisation of UPAs candidate for Vice-President is unlikely to involve as much drama as the Presidential candidate did. At the UPA meeting on Saturday,a name is expected to be finalised and announced,most probably that of incumbent Hamid Ansari. But considering the difficulties from within the UPA alliance that marred Pranab Mukherjees selection as Presidential nominee,Congress managers are leaving nothing to chance this time. Over the last few days,the party has been working overtime in ensuring that party MPs and senior leaders reach Delhi to sign nomination papers,which have been readied except for the name of the candidate. More than two sets of nomination papers are ready and waiting 20 proposers and 20 seconders are needed for each set for signatures. This is being done to save a lot of last minute hassles and would require only the addition of the name of the candidate,once it is finalised.

The Bitter Bit

One of the pioneers of the RTI movement,Shailesh Gandhi continues to be busy after retiring as Central Information Commissioner earlier this month. He is back in Mumbai and has started a battle against the internal goings-on in the very organisation he was serving till a few days back. He posted a long write-up on his Facebook page on Thursday,alleging that malicious and false charges had been made in a writ petition before Delhi High Court against him for doing my duty. Gandhi has targeted CICs Joint Secretary Law Akashdeep Chakraborty,who has filed the writ petition. The CIC has so far maintained restraint and not responded to Gandhis comments. Apparently,Doordarshan requested CIC to send an officer to participate in a discussion on this subject but the CIC declined.

Post Haste

While the focus is on the candidates for the post of Vice-President,who also happens to be the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha,the position of the deputy chairperson of the Upper House is also vacant and a behind the scene lobbying is going on for that post as well. After the Samajwadi Party showed no interest in the post,the Congress has reached out to the party leadership to seek support for its own candidate. The previous deputy chairman K Rahman Khan of the BJP has also been re-elected and is back in the House. During the time he was absent,P J Kurien of the Congress has been running the House and is being considered a strong contender for the post. Kurien is learnt to have met the SP leadership to seek its support. Interestingly,the Samajwadi Party has said that former deputy chairperson,Najma Heptullah,who is now in the BJP ranks,had also touched base with them.

State of War

With the Trinamool Congress agreeing to participate in Saturdays UPA meeting,sections within both the Congress as well as Trinamool are of the view that the relations between the two parties would now improve at the Central level at least. But at the state level,their equation seems to be going from bad to worse. Around 500 TMC workers are preparing to join the Congress ranks on Sunday in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal on Sunday. This follows the crossing over of about 1,000 TMC workers in Howrah on Thursday. Congress leaders say more TMC workers would follow. The TMC is obviously not happy at this attempt of Congress at poaching of cadres. But the Congress is going aggressive. Party state chief Pradip Bhattacharya is reported to have asked his workers to prepare reports on the implementation of projects and fund utilisation at panchayat levels across the state,as an exercise in preparation for the panchayat polls next year,when the two parties are expected to fight separately.

Money Mela

Among the many things for which Uttar Pradesh is seeking funds from the central government is the Kumbh Mela. When the chief secretary and his team of officials met the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister in the PMO a couple of days back to assess all the demands of Uttar Pradesh,the state put in a request for Rs 1,000 crore for management of the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad. It also sought money for the upgradation of the Allahabad-Lucknow highway.