Opinion Of Singhs and stings

When K C Singh relayed his conversation to Zail Singh,the President predicted shrewdly that Arjun Singh was a seasoned player who was bound to have taped the conversation and used it to his advantage. Forewarned,K C Singh spoke more circumspectly to Arjun Singh at the second meeting. In fact,Arjun Singh and Zail Singh,who disliked each other intensely,never met during this period. When Arjun Singh realised his sting operation had fizzled out,he leaked a recording of the first meeting to a periodical,claiming it was an IB tape.

Portrait gallery

All presidents when they demit office have their portraits done,which are displayed in the Rashtrapati Bhavan Banquet Hall. Although the artists are usually chosen by a committee of experts,several of the presidential paintings look amateurish,perhaps because they are sketched on the basis of photographs. President Pratibha Patil’s painting is being done by R N Singh,an artist selected by the Lalit Kala Akademi.

Lonely for the BJP

The presidential elections have made the BJP uneasily aware that it is going to be a tough struggle to secure allies in the 2014 general election. In the presidential election,the JD(U) and Shiv Sena deserted the NDA without a qualm. Though BJP president Nitin Gadkari had his reservations,at L K Advani’s prodding,the party backed P A Sangma,largely because it wanted to be on the same page as

J Jayalalithaa and Naveen Patnaik who had proposed Sangma’s name. But to the disappointment of the BJP,Jayalalithaa later lost her enthusiasm and even suggested that Sangma withdraw from the race. She departed for a long holiday at Kodanad in the Nilgiris and left the BJP to almost single-handedly manage the campaign. Patnaik,after making his grand gesture of supporting a tribal,did not exert himself to canvass votes. Nor did Advani’s effort to use Sudheendra Kulkarni’s services as an emissary to Mamata Banerjee bear fruit.

In pilot’s seat

There are several qualified pilots in Parliament,including Baijayant Jay Panda,Naveen Jindal and Dinesh Trivedi,but only BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy is a qualified commercial pilot. In fact,Rudy has made it to the Limca Book of Records for this distinction. Rudy,who has logged some 800 hours on an A 320 aircraft,flies as an honorary co-pilot for IndiGo whenever he has to travel within the country.

Changing his tune

After promising to host a conference in Tamil Nadu where the creation of Tamil Eelam would be the main subject of discussion,DMK leader M Karunanidhi has changed his tune and said the conference will only debate the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils and not discuss a Tamil movement. Karunanidhi seems to have made a U-turn after a meeting with Home Minister P Chidambaram. However,Karunanidhi’s turnaround has not gone down well with some of the party cadres. A recent poster chides the anti-Brahmin party for agreeing to vote for Pranab Mukherjee,a Brahmin.

Kissa kursi ka

There may be several reasons for Sharad Pawar’s annoyance with the Congress but two incidents last week added to his anxiety of being sidelined. On Thursday,the Cabinet once again failed to take up the issue of forward trading in agricultural commodities on the grounds that Railway Minister Mukul Roy could not attend the meeting. But the NCP did not see why Roy’s presence was necessary in the first place for taking a decision on this issue. The final straw was at the filing of the nomination papers for Hamid Ansari as Vice President. Just as Pawar was getting ready to sit down next to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,Lalu Yadav pushed his way through and took his chair.