Powerless to intercede
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had some anxious moments last month. NCP chief Sharad Pawar,who is gunning for Chavan,had two lengthy meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Pawar and Singh have a good rapport but the PMs friendly relations with Pawar are offset by Sonia Gandhis deep suspicion of the Maratha strongman. Gandhi wanted Chavan to continue as CM. She and Ahmed Patel also supported Sushil Kumar Shinde for Home Minister,even though the PM was unhappy with Shindes performance in Power. Incidentally,Shinde,like former home minister Shivraj Patil,is a bit of a clotheshorse,who even gets his shoes custom made from a premier Chinese shoemaker.
Hogging his time
The Congress high command may have decided to remove Captain Amarinder Singh as president of the Punjab Congress committee,but the former ruler of Patiala does not seem particularly discomfited by impending changes in the party organisation. He is off on a shooting party to South Africa along with some friends,including companion Aroosa Alam. The raja will be shooting warthogs,an expensive sport since the South African government charges a hefty fee for a licence to shoot them.
Power 24×7
After the power breakdown on Tuesday,official sources conveyed to the media that thanks to the power supply from Bhutan,electricity connections to VIP areas in the Capital and hospitals were restored almost immediately. Someone in the PMO wanted to make the point that the PMs residence did not get any special treatment. So a report was leaked that 7 Race Course Road did not have power for an hour-and-a-half. This upset the SPG which felt the report suggested that there were chinks in the PMs security set-up. A fresh report was put out,explaining that the PMs house and office are connected to a special generator which ensures that the power supply is never interrupted.
Double standards
Editor of Nai Duniya,Shahid Siddiqui,arranged his controversial interview with Narendra Modi through an acquaintance he met at Hema Malinis daughters wedding. Zafar Sareshwala,a businessman,praised Modi and agreed to arrange an interview for Siddiqui with him. Siddiqui is in the dog house both with the SP and the Congress. However,Congress MP and Lokmat editor Vijay Darda,who described Modi as dedicated and committed to his work as a lion, seems to have been let off the hook. The Congress is keen to brush aside Dardas remarks because of the clout he wields as owner editor of an influential newspaper in the Vidarbha region.
Difference in style
There was no interference from Prime Minister Vajpayees PMO in the work of the Kargil Review Committee of 1999 or the GoM which reviewed the national security system in 2000. Brajesh Mishra,who was then principal secretary to the prime minister, never tried to influence the final document. However,a decade later when the UPA assigned a similar job to the Task Force on National Security,there has been considerable interference. Lt Gen (retd) Prakash Menon,military advisor to the National Security Council Secretariat,frequently threw rank to influence the final report,even though he was not a member of the Task Force but was merely assisting the team. He seems to have interfered at the behest of the PMO,which wanted to have the final say.
Another sulking ally
After the NCP,it is the turn of the DMK to sulk. Fertiliser Minister M K Alagiri,who is the only DMK representative in the cabinet,has not been included in the empowered group of ministers to discuss the drought situation. Alagiri believes his portfolio is relevant to the issue. The possible reason for Alagiris exclusion is that he almost never shows up for cabinet meetings and is frequently abroad on official work. Meanwhile,the DMKs ministerial hopefuls,including T R Baalu,are peeved that the rejig of the cabinet before the parliamentary session did not include the allies.
Gag order
Ever since May when General V K Singh retired,the army has ceased to be in the news. In the last two months,there have been few stories about corruption in the defence forces,politics in the army,questionable transfers and unbecoming behaviour. This is in contrast to V K Singhs last months in office when accusations of all sorts were being freely bandied about. The silence on the army news beat is ascribed to Army chief Bikram Singhs diktat that army officers were not to speak to the media about defence matters.
