Opinion Dropping a brick

Don’t rock the boat

CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat decided to attend the party’s West Bengal state committee meeting at Kolkata even though no one from the Bengal unit,including the state chief,Biman Bose,had invited him. Karat realised that in his presence local leaders would not air their grievances against him even though they hold Karat responsible for their downfall by helping cement the Mamata Banerjee Congress alliance by his dogmatic stand on the Indo-US nuclear deal. Karat’s presence managed to silence criticism at the meeting. He,in turn,did not pin the blame on any individual for the Bengal debacle. A party old timer cited the absence of introspection after the poll defeat to a policy of not rocking a leaking boat. He gave a World War II analogy where two shipwrecked sailors from enemy countries were clinging to the same wooden plank. Though enemies,both shared a common goal: to survive.

Yogi’s rope trick

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has emerged stronger and the government weaker after the ham-handed manner in which it dealt with Baba Ramdev. The party eventually accepted Singh’s viewpoint that the Congress should have no truck with Ramdev. Earlier Singh had brought around his party colleagues to his line of thinking on Hindu terror. The general secretary called on Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to register his protest at the senior minister going to the airport to receive Ramdev. Rahul Gandhi also met Mukherjee in the same context. The infighting in the government is reflected in the efforts to try and pass the buck for the Ramdev fiasco. The Finance Minister pointed out that in talking to Ramdev,he was merely implementing the wishes of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs. The PM had asked him to meet Ramdev and explain to him the measures taken to curb black money. It was actually Kapil Sibal and Subodh Kant Sahay who were confident they could bring Ramdev around to their point of view and were convinced that a letter from Ramdev’s close associate meant that the controversial yoga guru would call off his fast.

Timing her entry

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is a believer in vaastu,feng shui and astrology. In her office in Rail Bhavan,she had kept a fish tank on the right side of her room and has introduced the same vaastu friendly décor in her new office at Writers Buildings. Her astrologer advised Banerjee to be sworn in as chief minister at 1.05 p.m and to move to her new office at 4 p.m. Since the Raj Bhavan is very close to Writers Buildings,Banerjee had to conceive ways to occupy herself between the swearing in ceremony and formally occupying the CM’s kursi. After refreshments at Raj Bhavan,Banerjee informed the governor M K Narayanan she would like to sit down and discuss some state matters with him. Narayanan suggested there was no hurry and she could first study the files and get acquainted with the problems. But,she was insistent on an immediate meeting. Shortly before the appointed hour,Banerjee finally left Raj Bhavan and walked to her new office accompanied by a large number of her supporters.

Mistaken identity?

Renuka Chowdhury has sent defamation notices to publications which carried the testimony of Kashinath Tapuriah to the CBI,claiming that his partner,Hasan Ali Khan,gifted a Rs 1.2 crore diamond ring to her. Chowdhury points out that never in her life has she met Tapuriah or Ali,either through Jagdish Tytler or through anyone else. Chowdhury believes that Tapuriah,who was not present when the ring was handed over,has mixed up her name with another woman politician and she does not plan to take the accusation lying down.