Opinion One to be Left out
Sitaram Yechury and Brinda Karat are among the five Left MPs from West Bengal due to retire from the Rajya Sabha in August this year.
One to be Left out
Sitaram Yechury and Brinda Karat are among the five Left MPs from West Bengal due to retire from the Rajya Sabha in August this year. Considering the poor prospects of the Left in the forthcoming West Bengal assembly elections,it is likely that the party may be in a position to return just one of the two stalwarts from the state to the Upper House. Logically it should be Yechury who is the leader of the CPI(M) in the Rajya Sabha and some 15 years Karats senior in the politburo. Karats supporters,however,feel she has the advantage because unlike Yechury,she is a daughter of the soil and a registered voter in Bengal. There is also the possibility that neither MP might be re-nominated,as the CPI(M) only rarely gives more than one term to its MPs in the Rajya Sabha.
Missing her presence
Sonia Gandhi was not present at the final of the World Cup match at Mumbai but even if she had been there,she would not have wished to be photographed with Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa,because of the forthcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. Many in the state feel that the central government failed to protect the interests of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka and took a soft line with the Rajapaksa government. Sonia Gandhis uncharacteristic late night drive to India Gate to celebrate the victory with the crowds was seen as a gesture to counter an impression,referred to even in WikiLeaks,that Gandhi keeps to herself and mixes with only close confidants and family.
Incidentally,cricket enthusiast,Priyanka Vadra,usually a regular at important cricket matches,was absent from both the finals and the semi-finals. She was on holiday at a forest retreat in Ranthambore. Robert Vadra joined her with his son after attending the semi-finals at Mohali.
Law unto himself
As chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC),Murli Manohar Joshi has ignored more than one parliamentary tradition. While meetings of all parliamentary committees are supposed to be in camera,Joshi invites the media for daily briefings on the days events,even providing a public commentary as to how witnesses fared during cross-examination. The Congress has complained to the Speaker about this. Joshis own party is also unhappy with his solo performance. The BJP gave Joshi a second term as PAC chairperson on the understanding that he would not embarrass the party by claiming that it was the PAC,not the JPC,which was the right body to investigate the 2G scam. But,Joshis daily briefings are once again undermining the JPC,which was set up at the insistence of the Opposition,with Parliament stalled over the issue for almost a whole session.
Joshi,enjoying the media attention,is in no mood to curtail his committees activities. Incidentally,at the PAC meeting,Congress MP Aruna Kumar from Andhra has a standard question for every witness. Where is the question of loss,how does the aam admi suffer when prices of cell phone services are down to one rupee a call? is his constant query.
Not FAMEs bills
The Congress may be spending a fortune on conducting the elections to the Youth Congress,but the Foundation for Advanced Management of Elections (FAME),which was outsourced the job of supervising the polls,wants to make clear that the money has not gone into its pocket. FAME charges little more than its operational expenses and received the total sum of Rs 3,40,000 during the year 2010-11 as fees for various IYC state elections. The extra expenses appear to have been for sundry other charges,such as printing of ballot papers,party functionaries bills for TA/DA and various arrangements by local party offices.
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