Opinion Controversial client

The CWG’s inadequacies are magnified by a huge,but incompetent,PR and media department where the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. Senior PR consultants,including Rajeev Desai,have been kept out of the loop by newcomers in the business who have the ear of the boss Suresh Kalmadi. This has resulted in such boo-boos as OC general secretary Lalit Bhanot’s remark on “differing standards of hygiene”. The faux pas could have been avoided if the media cell had advised Bhanot what to say at the press conference. At least half of a group of senior editors invited to see the Games Village on the Saturday before last,walked off in disgust because of the delay while the organisers ran around like headless chickens trying to arrange transport and accreditation. Then again,it surely makes better PR sense to familiarise the Games’s anthem through TV and radio,rather than wasting TV time getting unknown PR people to defend a song which almost no one has heard.

Backseat driving?

On the day of the Ayodhya judgment,the BJP allowed L K Advani to hog centrestage. The BJP has made several concessions to the senior leader. Core committee meetings are still held at Advani’s residence rather than at the party office. Advani is permitted a special aircraft at party expense. It’s thanks to party president Nitin Gadkari that Advani enjoys the position of both chief of the parliamentary party and acting chairperson of the NDA. The RSS felt strongly that Advani should hold only one post. Nevertheless,Advani is miffed that he does not always get his way with Gadkari. The BJP president refused to take back Uma Bharti despite Advani pushing her case and even taking her along with him recently to Somnath,thereby sending signals of upping the ante on the temple issue.

The BJP,with the tacit approval of the RSS,wants to de-link from Ayodhya,and leave it to sangh outfits like the VHP to continue the campaign. In fact,some months ago ,Gadkari publicly reflected what turned out to be the view of the Allahabad high court. He declared that he had no objection to a mosque being built close to the Ram temple. But whether the BJP can persuade Advani to tone down the rhetoric on an issue he considers his personal vindication,remains to be seen.

Seeds of doubt

The Capital looks particularly green,thanks to the unprecedented rains this year,but the Commonwealth Games’ own horticultural efforts,with a reported budget of Rs 135 crore,is not evident on the ground. The bougainvillea shrubs ordered from Vijaywada,after paying a fat deposit,cannot be used in the stadium because of security concerns. On Lodhi Road,adjacent to the stadium,the shrubs planted along the sidewalks,have already started wilting. The branches of the rows of frangipani are bent and the leaves drooping. It makes aesthetic sense to uproot them before the Games start.

Another instance of wasteful expenditure are the grass carpets between the tracks at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium. Since the opening and closing ceremonies of the CWG are to be staged at the same venue as the track events,the organisers have to replace the very expensive grass carpet thrice. The organisers have to take into account that the grass will be trampled upon by the performers at both the start and the end of the sports extravaganza.

Proof in person

The envoy of a Commonwealth country called on Jaipal Reddy,the Minister for Urban Development,who heads the GoM for the Games,to explain his country’s concern over the high incidence of dengue fever in the Capital. Reddy dismissed the High Commissioner’s fears and urged him not to be taken in by the exaggerated media scare. The High Commissioner explained tactfully that dengue was not just a rumour,he himself was recovering from a severe attack.