The Didi Plan

The Congress may be making all the right noises to pacify Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee,even asking its Bengal unit to keep quiet

THE Congress may be making all the right noises to pacify Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee,even asking its Bengal unit to keep quiet,but it is only a temporary arrangement. The party will re-visit the issue if TMC votes against Mukherjee in the presidential poll. In that event,say Congress sources,it may consider pulling out its ministers from the state government and wont mind a reciprocal gesture by the TMC at the Centre.

DEFERRING VERSIONS

AS the meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers EGoM on Telecom headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee,scheduled on Thursday,was deferred,there were many explanations on offer. One of them was that Mukherjee was not keen on taking any crucial,and probably contentious,policy decision now that he is headed for the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Another version was that some other meeting concerning crucial issues like NCTC got scheduled at the same time,which was to be followed by a meeting at the Congresss war room at Gurdwara Rakabganj Road to formulate strategy on the Presidential elections. The third version was that the time was not suitable to some members of the GoM. While the truth lay somewhere in between,the Prime Ministers Office was said to be collating details of the progress of all EGoMs and GoMs headed by Mukherjee so that the Prime Minister could find replacement for him upon his return from abroad.

COMMUNITY CALL

THE Information and Broadcasting Ministrys move to prepare a web-based personal information system of Group A and B of Indian Information Service officers has led to some confusion among the bureaucrats. The officers have been asked to specify which community they belong to apart from stating whether they belong to SC,ST,OBC or General. Now the officers are left wondering what exactly the ministry meant by community. Moreover,it has also triggered conspiracy theories that officers could be posted with ministers along community lines. Last heard,a corrigendum was on the way.

SUPREME COURT MAKEOVER

SUMMER vacations are being used by the Supreme Court staff to give the complex a makeover. Except for two courtrooms,which function as vacation benches,the rest of the courtrooms are now no-entry zones to outsiders while the courts specially hired carpenters,electricians and technicians are doing a thorough spring cleaning to ready the court halls for the new session. A posse of discreet security men are also at work,digging up the complex to upgrade the surveillance cameras. When asked upfront,one of them said they were just digging a gardening hole.

SECURITY TRAVELS

THE sector may be heading south,but civil aviation security officials continue to be at their innovative best to corner foreign trips. The latest is to send teams to audit the safety of Indian carriers at foreign airports outside South Asia and to assess whether Indian standards are being met. The first trip was to Singapore and the next is to Bangkok. Last heard,a longer list of international airports was being drawn up after the government reluctantly gave approvals in the name of security.