The more things change…

THE furore over the Sukna land scandal is affecting even traditional and ceremonial functions at the Army headquarters. With Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash,the seniormost officer indicted in the scandal,due to retire by the end of this month,a traditional farewell was to take place on February 28. While traditionally,most senior officers attend the programme as part of protocol,this time around a rare circular has been issued by the Army to ensure presence. In the letter,the Army headquarters has advised top officers to adjust their leaves and temporary duties to ensure that they are present in the Capital on the date of the farewell,raising quite a few eyebrows at South Block!

Now,Rahul’s baba steps in diplomacy

RAHUL Gandhi’s increasing interest in foreign policy issues is now translating into real acts of diplomacy,with the young AICC general secretary holding his first formal bilateral meeting here last week. The honour went to Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammed Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak. It was the first time Rahul had a one-on-one meeting with a visiting Head of State on Indian soil,although he is usually present at 10 Janpath when foreign dignitaries call on his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. On a visit to Singapore last year,Rahul had had a meeting with the Prime Minister of Singapore. Last November,during his visit to Egypt,he had met Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa. While the AICC general secretary gets numerous requests for meetings with visiting foreign dignitaries,his decision to say yes to Malaysia’s apparently indicates a gradual preparation by Rahul to make his mark in the international arena,even as he continues his discovery of rural India. Shortly after being inducted as AICC general secretary in September 2007,Rahul had accompanied Sonia to New York to attend the informal UN General Assembly Plenary. Before that,in August 2005,he had accompanied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Afghanistan. Congress sources say Rahul is a keen observer of foreign affairs and holds firm opinion on issue,though the Amethi MP may have shown little public indication of the same.

The Vice-President steals a march

VICE-President Hamid Ansari,who delivered the Kao Memorial Lecture last week at the RAW headquarters and suggested having a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Intelligence,created quite a stir in the cozy intelligence community. More than the content,intelligence officials wondered how they did not know in advance what Ansari was going to say. As it turns out,Ansari proved smarter. RAW had actually asked his office for an advance copy of the speech,taking the plea that it would be easier to make copies and circulate them. Ansari’s office refused and,instead,took some 50-odd copies with them for distribution. Also,it was the Vice-President who chose the topic of the speech and not the organisers. So,in the end,it was quite a surprise package for the spymasters.

Gadkari’s think tank

WITH Nitin Gadkari taking as the BJP president and Vinay Sahasrabuddhe being his close adviser,it was only natural that the latter would occupy the chamber attached to the party chief’s room at the 11,Ashoka Road,office. This room was earlier occupied by former BJP chief Rajnath Singh’s aide Sudhanshu Trivedi. Like Sahasrabuddhe,Trivedi has an ABVP background and is known as a sharp political mind,though he was often charged with using it to plot against other leaders in the party. Trivedi was recently seen complimenting Sahasrabuddhe’s capabilities. “Meri to ek hi buddhi thi,unki to sahsra buddhi hain (his surname,Sahasrabuddhe,suggests his intellectual faculties are a thousand times superior),” Trivedi said in a lighter vein to friends.

Why Agatha skipped meeting PM

DESPITE being in Delhi,Minister of State for Rural Development Agatha Sangma skipped the meeting junior ministers had with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to complain about not getting enough work. The reason given by Agatha’s office was that she was not keeping well. However,the excuse turned out to be lame given that later that day,she was spotted at a function of the ministry at Dilli Haat. The grapevine has it that just before the meeting Agatha’s office received some crank call informing her that the meeting had been cancelled. Another version says she chose to stay away as she did not want to annoy her senior minister C P Joshi.

BJP too mourns Mishra’s death

JANESHWAR Mishra was famously known as “Chhote Lohia” — commanding respect from one and all. It was no surprise therefore that leaders of all hues,including from the BJP,joined in paying their last respects to the late Samajwadi Party leader,who passed away last week. Arun Jaitley and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi went to condole Mishra’s death at the SP office in Delhi,while state BJP leaders paid their last respects in Allahabad,where he died. Former BJP president Rajnath Singh,who hails from Uttar Pradesh,may visit the family of the departed leader soon.

Keeping Tharoor in spirit

MINISTER of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor is not a man easily pleased,nor a man to easily keep quiet about it. While the government is learning to live with this,a ministerial colleague recently got a taste of Tharoor’s straight talk when he invited the latter to a small get together at his residence. Asked about the choice of drinks,the diplomat-turned-politician opted for a single malt. The host didn’t have one and offered something else,but Tharoor refused,finally reluctantly settling for a glass of wine. The red-faced host immediately sent people around to procure a single malt and offered it to Tharoor.

House-mate out,houses in

AMAR Singh’s fall from prominence in the SP has coincided with a profile upgrade for the party leadership in Delhi. First to benefit was SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav,who was in a peculiar position after the differences with Amar Singh emerged. Mulayam so long operated from Singh’s residence as he had still not been allotted a house in Lutyens’ Delhi. However,even as the Amar Singh episode played out in the SP,Mulayam was quietly allotted a large bungalow at 16,Ashoka Road. That was not all. The SP veteran who raised the banner of revolt against Amar Singh — Ram Gopal Yadav — now has a bigger bungalow right in front of the posh Khan market in Lodhi Estate, where he will be shifting from his rather modest flat at North Avenue. Even Akhilesh Yadav,who kept mum during the fight within on “uncle” Amar Singh,has moved up from his South Avenue flat to a bungalow on Pandara Road. With all the bungalows being doled out with such generosity,SP leaders can’t help but wonder if this is a New Year’s gift by the Congress in lieu of ousting Amar Singh.

Of jobs and postings

DESPITE initial indications that he would be given an extension,the chief of National Investigation Agency (NIA),R V Raju,who is retiring at the end of this month,seems all set to demit office. Though a successor is still to be named,S C Sinha,a 1975-batch IPS officer from Haryana cadre,who is Additional Director in the CBI,is tipped to take over. The post of CRPF Director General is also falling vacant this month,with A S Gill retiring on January 30. It is learnt that Vikram Srivastava,currently DG,ITBP,is likely to get that job. If that happens,two brothers would be heading the largest two paramilitary forces in the country. Raman Srivastava,DG of BSF,is Vikram’s brother.

Team EC’s hobby time

WHILE polls may keep them busy,the men manning the Election Commission have found a way to pursue their hobbies. While Chief Election Commissioner Navin B Chawla wrote a well-known biography of Mother Teresa,legal adviser to EC,S K Mendiratta,is known as a cricket buff and recently helped the national hockey federation frame its election by-laws. Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi,who came out with an edited volume on famous 19th-century Urdu poet Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali last fortnight,is known for his love for literature. He was seen presiding over the Republic Day Mushaiara in the Capital recently.

NHAI chief’s ‘tone and tenor’ irk MPs

WHILE the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has invited its fair share of criticism,now even NHAI Chairman Brijeshwar Singh is facing the rap.The Parliamentary Committee on Public Undertakings,in a report submitted last month,has put down on paper what it thought of the “conduct of the Chairman”. Taking umbrage at Singh’s “tone and tenor” that “tend to question the calibre and comprehension” of committee members,the report reminds Singh of “basic norms of etiquette and discretion” when appearing before a Parliamentary committee. Taking “objection to his indiscretion and condescending attitude”,the committee report devotes a whole page to the NHAI Chairman having “exceeded his brief” when suggesting that committee members and the CAG have been unable to grasp the way BOT (Build Operate Transfer) works.

Tailpiece

A SMALL,bitter lesson is behind HRD Ministry Kapil Sibal’s determination to put degrees and certificates online. Sibal actually lost his Harvard Law School degree while shifting houses,only to realise that Harvard didn’t have demat degrees for the unfortunate few like him. He is determined that students from Indian educational institutes don’t suffer that fate.