Opinion Sriprakash Jaiswal faces coal fire
Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal faced some tough questions from his own party MPs at a meeting on Tuesday at Jawahar Bhawan
Sriprakash Jaiswal faces coal fire
Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal faced some tough questions from his own party MPs at a meeting on Tuesday at Jawahar Bhawan. The meeting was meant to brief MPs on the line of defence to be taken by them on the coal block allocation issue. When Jaiswal began to speak,an MP from Rajasthan interrupted and demanded to know the real beneficiaries of coal allocation. Soon,other MPs,mostly the younger ones,joined her. After a while,Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal intervened to say the purpose of the meeting was to defend the government and party and asked the participants not to behave like television anchors and Opposition members on television shows.
Whose home ground is it?
Former cricketer and MP Mohammad Azharuddin was curious to know why BJP MP Kirti Azad spent so much time talking to Sonia Gandhi in the treasury bench. Kirti Azad,also a former cricketer,immediately shot back at his friend Azhar,This is my home ground and walked off. Some of the Congress MPs are still guessing what Azad meant when he said home ground.
More extensions for IAS officer
The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation,headed by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi,recently wrote to the Department of Personnel and Training,requesting it to extend tenure of P Sampath Kumar,a 1997-batch IAS officer of the Assam and Meghalaya cadre. Following the request,DoPT,which in August had rejected his plea for extension for two years,has now sought the State Governments advice. Kumar,who joined RGF in 2007,has already enjoyed an uninterrupted tenure of five years,which includes two extensions granted earlier. The high-profile Foundations trustees included Sonia Gandhi,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia,Finance Minister P Chidambaram,Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Tiger to get a hearing
With state governments,politicians,conservationists and business entities joining the chorus against the total ban on tourism in core areas of tiger reserves,the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear them all on a subsequent date. Amid the pandemonium of several lawyers trying to bring out their points of view against the ban,Justice A K Patnaik provided a light moment. Dont worry. We will hear each one of you on the next date. We will also hear a tiger if he comes to us in the court. In fact,we will hear the tiger first since it relates to his conservation, said the judge,leaving all the lawyers not only assured but amused.
Chinese whispers in the House
It must have been something really urgent. Or why would Sonia Gandhi summon the House attendant and hand over a chit to be passed to her son Rahul Gandhi who was sitting in one of the back rows in the Lok Sabha? Rahul,making one of his rare appearances in the House,showed the same promptness. He borrowed the pen from the attendant and scribbled a few words on the same chit that was taken back to Sonia. The House was adjourned within minutes,after which the mother and son walked out together,engaged in a conversation.
IE Bureau
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