Opinion Keen to be educated

Incidentally,leader of the JD(U) in the Lok Sabha,Sharad Yadav was missing at the start of the debate. A frantic call was made to his residence to find out the reason for his absence,particularly as he was to speak on the motion. Yadav protested that the debate was not in the business agenda for the day. A veteran parliamentarian like Yadav had forgotten that a motion of adjournment is not listed in the day’s business. He reached just in time to say his piece.

Gingerly making a move

THE NCP is keen to form a ginger group in the UPA with the DMK and the Trinamool Congress. It feels that the Congress takes its allies for granted. Praful Patel called on the DMK’s M K Alagiri to strengthen ties but Patel did not have much luck. Alagiri speaks little English so he had to use the services of party MP K V Ramalingam as an interpreter. Alagiri’s standard response to all suggestions for joint action on issues was that his father and leader M Karunanidhi makes all the decisions from Chennai.

No exclusive right

WHEN someone in Parliament commented on the saffron colour of Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Sonia’s kurta and asked her why she was wearing BJP colours,she flared up. “I am from Punjab where we consider saffron the colour of sacrifice and won’t allow anyone to try and appropriate it’’.

Back with a bang

WHEN RSS pracharak Sanjay Joshi was inducted into the BJP’s UP election committee,despite protests from L K Advani and Narendra Modi,party president Nitin Gadkari assured everyone that Joshi’s role would be only peripheral. In fact,Joshi has,taken charge of the party’s UP assembly campaign. His influence extends from selecting candidates to planning the campaign strategy. Joshi flew to Nagpur to get his list of candidates approved by Gadkari. Joshi sits in the central election committee along with Advani,whom he had once asked,on behalf of the RSS,to step down as president following Advani’s ‘Jinnah was secular’ certificate.

Rajnath Singh,who was chuffed to find that a survey listed him as the most popular choice among BJP’s candidates for UP chief minister,is miffed that his son Pankaj was not given a safe seat in Lucknow city which went to the veteran Kalraj Mishra. Uma Bharti is to fight the elections from Bundelkhand but will not be projected as chief minister. Joshi wants to maintain the right balance between OBCs and upper castes. If the BJP performs well in UP,there are plans to re-appoint him all India general secretary (organisation),a post Joshi lost after a sex DVD,which allegedly featured him,surfaced mysteriously.

Minister protests

I AM being threatened and blackmailed and that too in the presence of the Home minister’’,is how Law Minister Salman Khurshid jokingly referred to the strong arm tactics used by Delhi society queen bee Mala Singh to ensure he wrote a chapter on Shahjahanabad for the book Delhi: Red Fort to Raisina. To mark the centenary of New Delhi,the book was released by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit at a function attended by the who’s who of the Capital,including Home Minister P Chidambaram in a suit.

Food for thought

SHIPPING Minister G K Vasan was selected by his party to go to Moscow and present a congratulatory letter on behalf of the Congress to Vladmir Putin for his re-election as prime minister. Vasan was a trifle reluctant since he was to attend the prayer ceremonies for his uncle who passed away recently. He was persuaded that the honour should outweigh family duties. Vasan,however,had not bargained for the severity of the Russian winter with temperatures falling to -2 Degree C. There was no photo opportunity with Putin since he simply handed over the letter along with party delegates from other countries. The biggest problem was the absence of vegetarian food. The Indian embassy discovered a Tamil restaurant but it was so out of the way that getting there and back proved a headache in Moscow’s biting cold. However,the problem was solved after a Tamil family was located which very kindly cooked meals for a very grateful Vasan.