Think Small

While the Congress prefers to have a dialogue with senior BJP leaders and,on certain occasions,leaders of crucial allies like the SP and the BSP

While the Congress prefers to have a dialogue with senior BJP leaders and,on certain occasions,leaders of crucial allies like the SP and the BSP not much personal attention is paid to smaller parties,especially those in the Opposition camp. But,UPA strategists,it seems,need to give a re-think about how they approach relatively smaller,regional parties,especially in the context of JD(U)s break-up with the BJP. While an all-party meeting is being planned ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament to try to bring everybody on board on the insurance sector reforms and other pending legislations,the government may need to reach out to the JD(U) differently. Sour-ces said Sharad Yadav,who was not very happy with Nitish Kumars decision to break ties with the BJP,may again have a different view on insurance sector reforms. And if Yadav commits the party against it at the all-party meeting,Kumar may be compelled to support the line. JD(U) leaders believe that a call from the Prime Minister or the Finance Minister to the Bihar Chief Minister before the all-party meeting may give Kumar some reason to persuade his colleagues.

Intelligent Move

SPECULATION about the next DG,NIA,is set to end with Sharad Kumar tipped to have taken a decisive lead over his rivals. Kumar,a 1979 batch IPS officer of Haryana cadre,is said to be the only candidate recommended to the Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC). The Ministry of Home Affairs had proposed two other names Maharashtra cadre IPS officer Arup Patnaik,1979 batch,and K Saleem Ali,a 1978 batch IPS of Manipur-Tripura cadre presently in CBI. The post of DG,NIA,fell vacant after S C Sinha was appointed member,NHRC. Kumar is presently DG,prison,in the Haryana government and had earlier handled the 2007 Samjhauta Express train blast before it was transferred to NIA.

Decks Cleared

THE post of joint director at Hyderabad supervising the Ishrat Jahan probe has fallen vacant after IPS officer V V Lakhsmi Narayana was repatriated to his cadre in Maharashtra. While the investigations have been handed over to another JD at New Delhi,CBI is all set to get more manpower with decks being cleared for the appointment of six DIGs and four IGs. Those who will soon join the CBI are Madhup Kumar Tewari from the 1995-batch AGMU cadre; Sandeep Khirwar,1995-batch Haryana cadre; Vineet Vinayak,1995 batch Sikkim cadre; Shankhabrata Bagchi,1996 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre; Bhanu Bhaskar,1996-batch UP cadre; and Gajendra Kumar Goswami,1997-batch UP cadre.

Image Conscious

TOP officials in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have grown conscious of the need for an image makeover. They think their image is not being highlighted properly in the media and therefore they want a robust public relations department. In order to project themselves better as a force,which handles the major anti-Naxal operations in the country,the CRPF is thinking of deploying more people in their PR department who can collate information and disseminate it in a better way.

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Delhi Confidential

EXCLUSIVE: EC brings in feature to check misuse of identity to seek voter list deletions

Political Pulse2 hr ago

The Election Commission has launched a new 'e-sign' feature on its portal and app to prevent fraud. This comes after allegations of misuse of online voter deletion forms in Karnataka. The feature requires voters to verify their identity using their Aadhaar-linked phone numbers, reducing the possibility of fraud.

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