Waiting Game

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav seems to be maintaining a strategic silence on the Presidential elections

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav seems to be maintaining a strategic silence on the Presidential elections. Earlier this month,West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had met him in a bid to come at an understanding and use their support to a Congress candidate as a bargaining ploy. While Mulayam is not averse to the idea,he is said to have been non-committal. Close aides say he doesnt want to jump the gun and is keeping a close watch on what the BJP is doing on this issue. The BJP is yet to endorse any candidate and Mulayam,apparently,is of the opinion that any attempt to bargain with the Congress would be a non-starter in the absence of a rival candidate from the BJP or other opposition parties. He is willing to play the waiting game,therefore.

Brotherly Support

Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay is camping in his hometown Ranchi these days. His brother Sunil Kumar Sahay has secured the Congress ticket for the Lok Sabha bypolls in the neighbouring Hatia constituency and the minister is keen to ensure his victory. Subodh Kant Sahay has himself represented the constituency three times in 1977 when Hatia became a Lok Sabha constituency and in the next two general elections. Subsequent winning candidates are also believed to have enjoyed his support. In fact,Sahays clout in the constituency is one of the major reasons for the Congress to give ticket to his brother. Sahay is planning to campaign extensively over the next one month for the June 12 election.

Farewell to Chief

Army Chief General V K Singh had a quiet birthday on May 10 his last in office. While in the case of Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma,who turned 62 a few months back,Defence Minister A K Antony ensured that a cake was cut,there was no such event on May 10,with a senior Defence Ministry functionary saying that there was no such tradition. However,Singh will be given a farewell. Antony is hosting a dinner for him on May 23,followed by a banquet thrown by President Pratibha Patil the next day. The last major function that Singh would attend as the Army Chief will be the passing out parade at the National Defence Academy. While the parade is usually held on May 31,it has been advanced by a day this year to ensure that Singh reaches back office to hand over the reins on the last day of the month.

Lacking Humour

While Congress MPs have joined the protest in Parliament against the controversial cartoons in textbooks,a senior party leader Anil Shastri has taken a rare and divergent view. Cartoonists should stop drawing cartoons since their creative freedom is under attack by Parliament. One should not lose the sense of humour, he wrote on Twitter. Even Ambedkar would not have taken offence to Shankars cartoon. Parliament seems to have lost its sense of humour. Vote bank politics is killing the creativity of cartoonists/artists. Baba Saheb today would have hung his head in shame, Shastri said.

Uncommon Man

In his eagerness to take a dig at BJP leader L K Advani,Lalu Prasad misfired in the Lok Sabha on Monday during the impromptu discussion on political cartoons in NCERT textbooks. Lalu mistook the famous common man in R K Laxmans cartoons to be L K Advani,before Sharad Yadav corrected him. Incidentally,there were a few cartoons on Sharad Yadav in the bunch of cartoons that came under criticism of the MPs. There were none on Lalu.