Without work

Agatha,though,is short of work these days,having little to do in the ministry.

Without work

With eyebrows being raised in the ruling dispensation over MoS for Rural Development Agatha Sangma accompanying her father P A Sangma to meet AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa to seek support for his Presidential bid,the former Lok Sabha Speaker has clarified that she will not campaign for him if he contests against a UPA candidate. Agatha,though,is short of work these days,having little to do in the ministry. When she had become MoS,she had been allocated Drinking Water and her father had even started consulting experts to help her in her job. In July last year,however,Drinking Water and Sanitation was made a separate ministry and given to Gurudas Kamat who resigned in protest. It reverted to Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh but as an additional charge. As MoS,Ministry of Rural Development,Agatha could no longer continue with Drinking Water portfolio. She has been given National Rural Livelihood Mission where there is hardly any work for her.

Party tradition

LESS than a week before West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee walked out of a TV show,a party MP,Sukhendu Sekhar Roy,did the same during a Rajya Sabha TV panel discussion. The issue at hand was the moratorium sought by Banerjee on the repayment of the money borrowed by the state from the Centre. And,the provocation was a reference made by a panelist to the budgetary allocations made by the state government for youth clubs,which,according to him,were hubs of Trinamool activities.

Crowding the ring

TAKING a cue from P A Sangma,at least two more persons have thrown their hats into the ring for the nations top job. With Sangma using his tribal identity to pitch for the post of the President,one Dr Leo Rebello has been claiming to be more qualified than Sangma. Rebello,a self-proclaimed Indian Peoples Presidential Candidate and World Peace Ambassador, in fact,has also approached some amused MPs to strengthen his bid. To the surprise of still other MPs,JDU Lok Sabha MP,Jainarain Prasad Nishad,has also jumped into the fray circulating his CV to them.

Setting the agenda

WHILE CBI and the NIA chiefs are already accompanying the Home Secretary to Pakistan for bilateral talks,the government is learnt to have also asked the chief of Intelligence Bureau,Nehchal Sandhu,to join the delegation. It is believed that by sending the chief of Indias internal intelligence agency,the government wants to give a serious impression about its demand on terrorism. The three chiefs are likely to press for sanctions against the wanted terrorists,including Mumbai 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed,and state support to other terrors acts including pumping of fake Indian currency into India.

Alliance politics

SOME alliance partners are obviously more equal than the rest. Or it may simply be a case of homing in. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azads outburst against the Jamp;K government over infant deaths at GB Pant Hospital is a sharp contrast to his silence during infant deaths in West Bengal when his officials were busy trotting out IMR figures to prove that the deaths at the BC Roy Hospital in Kolkata and the district hospitals in Malda and Murshidabad are nothing out of the ordinary.