Well warriors

Now, with the roles reversed, the BJP seems to have forgotten what it preached. How come the NDA members don’t feel responsible for wasting public funds when they interrupt the proceedings on the smallest excuse now? Their latest issue: Shibu Soren. Before the Lok Sabha elections, the NDA leaders tried their best to strike a deal with Soren in Jharkhand. When Soren refused to ally with them, and subsequently became a minister in the UPA Government, they used the State Government machinery in Jharkhand to dig out a three-decade-old arrest warrant against him with the sole purpose of embarrassing the UPA Government. How else can one justify renewal of a 29-year-old warrant in a case linked to political agitation. If the BJP was so keen to enforce the law, why didn’t they pursue the case when they were in power, both in Jharkhand and at the Centre, for so many years?

The Tiger smiles

I must congratulate Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray for showing magnanimity in the election of the Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. The Congress has always been saying that out of the four presiding officers, at least one should be from the party. Thus, it had a strong claim on the post of Deputy Chairperson of the Upper House, which was so far occupied by Najma Heptulla. Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is learnt to have subscribed to this theory and mounted pressure within his party to concede to the Congress demand.

While the Opposition leader in the House, Jaswant Singh, conveyed his consent on the election of Congress candidate Rehman Khan, Shiv Sena decided to field its own candidate, Eknath Thakur. It was evident from the composition of the House that the Sena would lose, but the party’s MPs were adamant on remaining in the fray. On the other hand, it would have been difficult for the BJP to vote for the Congress candidate while the Sena was in the race. So, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad requested Thackeray to allow the unanimous election of Khan, for the sake of healthy parliamentary practice. And Thackeray agreed.

Yankee bouncer

It is heartening to see the United States of America qualifying for the cricket mini-world cup (ICC knock-out) tournament. The US team showed promise and sincerity in their qualifiers. Now, China is next on line. As a policy, the Chinese Government is encouraging its citizens to take up the game. Schools in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have been asked to include cricket in their curriculum next year. A ground in Beijing has also been planned as an international cricketing venue. It will be some years before the US and China reach the top competitive rank, but the entry of two of the biggest sporting nations will certainly take cricket a few leaps forward towards becoming a global sport.

Meanwhile, ICC president Ehsan Mani, who was recently in India, pointed out one fact we often overlook. With S Venkataraghavan retiring after a successful stint, there is nobody from India in the ICC elite panel of umpires. While the BCCI is trying to encourage umpires at the domestic level by offering better deals, it would be much easier to get quality umpires if former cricketers would consider it a viable post-retirement option. They have the example of Venkat, widely acclaimed as the best in recent times. Maninder Singh showed some interest but eventually settled for commentary.

The writer is a Congress MP