Opinion Chidambaram’s visa card

Turning new leaf

Criticised by the media for being absent and not speaking at ministerial meetings, Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers,MK Alagiri is now trying to be more proactive. For the empowered group of ministers on Bhopal,Alagiri instructed his ministry to prepare a two-page summary in Tamil of important talking points. The translation was too convoluted so the note was faxed to Tamil Nadu for a translation which was comprehensible. Alagiri carried the document to the meeting and raised a few issues. He also plans to visit Bhopal soon.

Keeping an option open

The Janata Dal (U) President Sharad Yadav insists that the BJP-JD(U) alliance is back on track. BJP leaders,including Bihar deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi,have met Yadav to work out a truce. But it is not Yadav,nor the party’s national executive— in fact,the national executive has not met for the last six months despite the crisis—who will take the call. It is Nitish Kumar alone who will decide and he is playing his cards close to his chest. What really riled Nitish about the advertisement displaying a photograph of him and Modi hand in hand,was that it was published in all the Urdu newspapers.

Yadav supports continuing with the NDA and dismisses a recently published poll survey suggesting that the JD(U) will win more seats on its own than in an alliance with the BJP as a Congress ploy. But another Nitish adviser, retired bureaucrat NK Singh,has been pushing for breaking ties with the BJP as his sympathies lie with the Congress. Lallan Singh,who quit the JD(U) some months back,remains in close touch with NK Singh.

No retirement plan

With Nitin Gadkari appointed BJP party president,it was assumed that the 82-year-old LK Advani would go into semi-retirement. Far from it. Jaswant Singh acknowledges that it is thanks to Advani that he is back in the party. Advani now wants to rehabilitate Uma Bharati,despite opposition. He also played an active role in Jharkhand politics. Apart from his party work,Advani keeps busy travelling and writing a blog. He explained to a journalist that his hyper activity is not because of ambition,but because he is acutely conscious that if he does not remain physically and mentally active,he may slip on both counts. The plight of his two close comrades,Atal Behari Vajpayee and George Fernandes weighs on his mind.

Mind your language

When Nitin Gadkari compared Lalu Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav to dogs,there was an outcry over his choice of words. Gadkari’s supporters were quick to explain that Gadkari’ s colloquial language is common in his native Marathi and he meant no offence. Some time back,Gadkari had taken a press party from Delhi to Bhandara in Vidarbha to address a rally. The audience from Delhi was taken aback by Gadkari’s raunchy humour, particularly when referring to IPL cheerleaders. Such jokes might be permissible for a local level politician but not for the president of a national party.

A neat arrangement

Director,Offshore,ONGC,Sudhir Vasudevan’s daughter,is getting married this Sunday in Kolkata. An ONGC board meeting has been fixed at the same time in the city. That way the ONGC official can get his colleagues and superiors to attend the festivities,with the PSU taking care of their accommodation and travel expenses.