Treading with Caution

The Cabinet note will bring a finality to a prolonged conflict the club had last year.

Treading with Caution

WHILE in his address at the annual CBI conference Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took a critical line on the functioning of the agency,there was difference in approach at his address at the annual DGPs conference that is hosted by the Intelligence Bureau. Singh refrained from referring to the Ishrat Jahan and Sadiq Jamal cases in which several senior IB officials have been questioned,including former director Nechal Sandhu. Incidentally,Gujarat DGP Pramod Kumar also seemed to have skipped the closed-door interaction organised by the IB with the Prime Minister during the conference.

Stuck in MoEF

Following the Chief Ministers recent outburst over denial of forest clearance to the Dibang valley hydroelectric projects,Chief Secretary of Arunachal Pradesh has now written to the Ministry of Environment amp; Forests,headed by Jayanthi Natarajan,asking it to reconsider its decision. The Forest Advisory Committee is yet to take a call on reconsidering it and will wait for Natarajans decision on the same before taking it up.

Collateral Damage

In the brouhaha following the alleged incident of sexual assault by former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal and subsequent cancellation of a move to make him a member of the Prasar Bharati board,the name of another person too has now been dropped. C K Kesavanan,grandson of C Rajagopalachari,was slated to be the second member to be nominated from a list of 26. But with Tarun now out,the three-member committee headed by the Vice-President will have to recommend members afresh.

A home at last

The Urban Development UD Ministry is planning to move a Cabinet note to give a permanent home to the Foreign Correspondents Club FCC,which has been running from a residential property since 1992 on Mathura Road in the Capital. The Cabinet note,being moved by UD Minister Kamal Nath,will bring a finality to a prolonged conflict the club had when it ran into trouble last year on administrative grounds over rules on operating from a building with residential status.

Vote Bank

Much is said about the mundu brigades presence in the corridors of power in Delhi. What is less said is the fact that Keralites have a sizeable presence in the Capital. The Congress fighting to have a shot at power for the fourth consecutive time in Delhi is leaving no stone unturned to reach out to the Malayalees in the Capital. So,Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and its state unit president Ramesh Chennithala will land in Delhi this week for campaigning. A group of Congress MLAs from Kerala has already landed and they are said to be visiting Malayalee pockets. Among them are former NSUI president Hibi Eden,one of the young faces of the Congress in Kerala Shafi Parambil and MLA T N Prathapan. Tamils too are in significant numbers in the Capital. Interestingly,Vijayakants Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam has fielded about 10 candidates and one gets to hear that the actor-turned-politician himself will land in Delhi for campaigning for his nominees.