Opinion Don’t take for granted

Guessing game in Congress

Congress members are curious as just who exactly Congress MP Praveen Singh Aron was referring to when he accused some in his own party of deliberately sabotaging negotiations with Anna Hazare because they felt threatened by Rahul Gandhi’s growing popularity. The other question is: was the first-time MP acting entirely on his own?

In his letter to Rahul Gandhi,Aron charged that a very small section of Congress leaders might have willingly or unwittingly played into the hands of anti-Rahul forces by mishandling the sensitive matter,while Gandhi and his mother were away. He wanted his allegations to be investigated by a special panel of senior Congress leaders. Aron, who is close to Salman Khurshid,wondered why the Hazare crisis was dealt with in a purely technical manner even though an experienced minister like Kapil Sibal had said that Hazare’s campaign was not innocent but had ulterior motives.

Tongue-tied Akhtar

Though he was nominated a Rajya Sabha MP last year and is one of the more articulate MPs,lyricist Javed Akhtar has yet to make his maiden speech in the House. Akhtar is keeping his powder dry because he wants to speak at length on his pet project,a proposed Copyright Bill. The Bill would end the prevailing practice in the movie industry where lyricists,singers and musicians are paid a one time fee instead of getting regular royalties on the basis of sales. The advantage of a maiden speech is that you can hold forth for any length of time,without interruption. Although the lyricist has tied up support for the Bill from all political parties,it’s yet to be introduced in the House. Once again,it is unlikely to be taken up in the monsoon session,despite Akhtar’s best efforts.

Disappearing act

Rahul Gandhi read out a speech during zero hour in the Lok Sabha on August 26 on the Lokpal Bill. He threw the debate off tangent with the suggestion that the Lokpal be made into a constitutional body. Curiously,Gandhi was missing from the House the next day when the actual discussion on the Lokpal took place. According to Congress sources,Gandhi had left for the US to bring back his mother. But Gandhi,in fact,flew to the US the day after the Lokpal debate. The Hazare campaign has given the Congress a jolt because of the large number of young people who joined the movement. The Congress has always been confident that Gandhi would win the youth vote for the party in the next general election.

Major faux pas

Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit was one of the first speakers during the discussion on the Lokpal Bill. Dikshit,who is friendly with some of Hazare’s advisers,concentrated on the features of the Bill and bringing about a rapprochement between government and the activists. He got so carried away that he forgot the cardinal rule of his party. He failed to mention Rahul Gandhi and his speech on the Lokpal the previous day. The Congress high command was so upset with Dikshit’s lapse that it altered the list of speakers so that Anand Sharma,who was supposed to speak in the Rajya Sabha,was fielded in the Lok Sabha instead. Sharma made sure that due credit was given to the Gandhi scion.