Wet world view

Credit Policy

The national hysteria over Prince, the six-year-old boy who fell into the 60-ft-deep well and was miraculously rescued, was fuelled by television channels and newspapers. Even Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee felt the issue was important enough to be raised in Parliament and he read out a message in the Lok Sabha praising the Army for its efforts in rescuing the boy.

One MP who was distinctly unhappy with Chatterjee’s message was Navin Jindal, the MP from Kurukshetra. Jindal, a big businessman, had cancelled all his appointments and spent two days at the site while the rescue operations were underway, organising food, water, shelter etc for the people on the job. He complained to the MP sitting next to him in Parliament, Kuldip Bishnoi, that though he spent 15 hours helping with relief work without anything to eat, he did not even get a mention. Bishnoi pacified him pointing out that there was a silver lining. If the Speaker had mentioned Jindal’s name he would per force have had to mention Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s name as well. Bhajan Lal’s son at least is happy that his father’s rival did not get any credit.

Speaking through stars

Many politicians from South Asia believe implicitly in astrology but are too politically correct to admit it openly. Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament J M Lokubandara is, however, refreshingly candid on the subject. Speaking to a group of visiting Indian journalists last week, the Speaker claimed confidently that the country’s rapidly deteriorating law and order situation would get resolved by November when the planetary position of the stars would improve. He ascribed the ongoing conflict between the Government and the LTTE for the last two and a half years to the inauspicious configuration of the planets.

Royal rocks

When it comes to gems, no one can rival the royals. Even liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s flashing diamond ring which is the cynosure of many eyes paled into insignificance next to the huge rock Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje sported on her finger when she visited Parliament on Monday. It made actress Sushmita Sen’s much-discussed solitaire look minuscule in comparison. The Chief Minister, however, is remarkably modest about her jewels, claiming matter-of-factly that since she had inherited them she had never bothered to find out their carat weight and only knows that they came from the Golconda mines. She maintained that Padmini (the wife of the head of the Jaipur royal house) had bigger stones.

Looking trim and relaxed after her trip to the US, Vasundhara is one BJP CM who has managed to steer remarkably clear of controversy. Her secret is she focuses only on her work in the state and does not get involved in the messy internal politics of her party at the national level. ‘‘I do my thing and let them do theirs,’’ is how she puts it. She believes that the people of Rajasthan do not resent it if she wears her family’s inheritance, they know it is old wealth and not acquired recently.

Elephant walk

The elephant is trampling all over the lotus. According to the Lucknow political rumour mill, some 26 BJP MLAs have applied to Mayawati for tickets for the Assembly elections due next year. Taking advantage of the demand for party tickets, Mayawati charges a hefty sum as donation for the party for the right to fight on the elephant symbol.

Mayawati’s trusted lieutenant Satish Mishra has drawn the initial application charges. The amount increases dramatically if your nomination is accepted. If it is rejected you get back only half of your money. Scheduled castes get half-rate concession.

The BSP has practically finalised nominations for western UP, selecting two persons for every constituency. The advantage of keeping a spare candidate for each Assembly seat is that it swells the party coffers. The disadvantage is that it creates uncertainty till the last moment.

Flat-footed cops

Just a day after two air-hostesses and a companion managed to drive up to the PM’s gate on Thursday, a TV crew experienced first hand the flat-footedness of the security guards at Race Course Road. A cop examining each journalist’s accreditation card exclaimed in amazement that it was curious that all the scribes were named Deepak Sandhu. A mewswoman had to explain that Deepak Sandhu was the Principal Information Officer who was the issuing authority and not the card holder.