Opinion Dreaming big
On an extensive tour of Rashtrapati Bhawan,Pranab Mukherjee stumbled upon a large conference room on the first floor with table and chairs.
Dreaming big
On an extensive tour of Rashtrapati Bhawan,Pranab Mukherjee stumbled upon a large conference room on the first floor with table and chairs. This was used as the Cabinet room by the Viceroys. The room has been non functional for over half-a-century. Mukherjee reportedly has plans for the Cabinet room. Signs of Mukherjees activism as President are already visible. He has put Rashtrapati Bhawan on Facebook and also plans to post all his speeches on YouTube. The website of the President of India has been re-designed and the profile of Mukherjee gives him credit for conceiving numerous flagship government programmes. (In Congress culture,credit for such programmes is usually reserved only for the partys first family.) There is also a slot on the website for redressing grievances. After taking over,Mukherjee has had informal session with Bengali journalists and another with 100-odd members of the Capitals media. He held a private dinner for Sonia Gandhi and her family at Rashtrapati Bhawan and plans to follow it up with similar one-on-one interactions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,Speaker of the Lok Sabha Meira Kumar and Leaders of the Opposition,Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley.
Re-doing the kitchen
Pranab Mukherjee is living in the guest house of Rashtrapati Bhawan while he waits for the former Viceroys palace to be renovated. Though he wants to live modestly, Mukherjee plans an overhaul of the old-fashioned building,starting with the huge kitchens which are infested with cockroaches and rats. A renovated kitchen is the best way to improve the quality of the food,about which there are numerous complaints. Another area of interest is the guest bedrooms for state visitors. For the past few years,state guests have been accommodated at five-star hotels rather than in Rashtrapati Bhawan. Mukherjee wants to raise the comfort level of the historic building so that visiting heads of state can stay here as was the practice in the past.
Quid pro quo
Over a dozen new members with limited playing rights have been admitted out of turn to the prestigious Delhi Golf Club on the recommendation of the Minister for Urban Development Kamal Nath. The quota of tenured government officers nominated by the UD Ministry to the club has doubled. And the yearly discretionary quota of the ministry for full members has gone up by 50 per cent. There is a buzz both in the club and government circles over the controversial new decisions. Agitated old members fear that the influx of new entrants will lower the tone of the posh club. It normally takes some 40 years to become a member of the club. The ministers eagerness to extend the clubs lease from 2020 to 2050 by a government order is suspect,considering there are still eight years left for the lease to expire. The haste to work out a new lease ahead of time seems directly related to the flood of new members.
Shukla will do
It is not just L K Advani who is pessimistic about the prospects of the BJP heading an NDA government in 2014. At a recent meeting,a senior BJP leader was heard complaining that the non-Congress parties have become so compliant that they are willing to fall in line with the UPA even without a formal meeting with Sonia Gandhi or the Prime Minister. They are content to liaise with MoS for parliamentary affairs Rajiv Shukla.
No iftar for Modi
An adviser to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS top brass put forward a proposal,which,he felt,would help Modi improve his image among minorities. He wanted Modi to host an iftar party. But just as he reacted negatively to the offer to don a Muslim cap,Modi was strongly opposed to the idea of hosting an iftar party as he felt it would upset his Hindutva constituency and smack of tokenism.
Out with the old
Actor Mithun Chakraborty was once totally aligned with the CPI(M) and even campaigned for the party. But now Chakraborty has switched loyalties to Mamata Banerjee. The actor flew together with Banerjee to Delhi for the swearing-in ceremony of Pranab Mukherjee as President. The TMC leader is reportedly planning to make Chakraborty a member of the Rajya Sabha. Banerjee has earned a reputation for tossing aside her long-time supporters to make space for new entrants,like businessman K D Singh. Many old-timer TMC loyalists have been marginalised. Sovandeb Chattopadhyay is no longer in charge of the partys labour union. Pankaj Banerjee,who was once leader of the Opposition in the Assembly,has been thrown out of the party,Becharam Manna,who led the Singur agitation,is out in the cold,while Nirbed Roy and Arunava Ghosh have joined the Congress.
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