Opinion Unofficial adviser

There has been a realignment in Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s fractious family,following raids in connection with the telecom scam. Till recently Fertiliser Minister M K Azhagiri was not on speaking terms with his cousin,Minister for Textiles Dayanidhi Maran,but now the two,along with Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin,are on the same side. The common target is Communication Minister A Raja. The three have taken the position that it is up to Raja to disprove the charges against him and the DMK has nothing to do with it. The only members of the family batting for Raja are Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi and her mother,Rajati. Raja,meanwhile,is trying to protect himself by dragging in the Prime Minister’s name. Incidentally,Swan Telecom,which benefited by advancing the date for opening the bids,is believed to have a link with a top politician from Maharashtra.

Question of trust

For Sonia Gandhi,affairs of state and politics take second place to her role as the guardian of the Nehru-Gandhi legacy. A week before Indira Gandhi’s 25th death anniversary,she spent three hours at the Indira Gandhi Museum on Safdarjung Road supervising arrangements. This on a day when the names of the new chief ministers of Haryana and Maharashtra had to be finalised and many of her party people were waiting to have a word with her.

Perhaps the only non-family member who has Sonia Gandhi’s complete confidence is journalist Suman Dubey,who has scrupulously kept away from politics. Dubey was recently appointed secretary of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust. He is also the secretary of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund and a trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

Write move

Shashi Tharoor is perhaps the best known writer among Manmohan Singh’s ministers. But the author of The Great Indian Novel admits that ever since he joined politics,he hasn’t had the time to think of another book. Perhaps he is too busy tweeting. But two senior Cabinet ministers,Law Minister Veerappa Moily and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal,have managed to make time for literary pursuits. Every morning from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m.,Moily works on his epic poem on the Mahabharata in Kannada. Moily’s earlier epic poem on the Ramayana drew much critical acclaim. Sibal released his first book of poems,I Witness,last year and he continues to scribble verses on his Blackberry whenever inspired,be it in aircrafts,cars,or in meetings.

Reddy to cross over

The same forces of destabilisation at work to unseat Andhra Chief Minister K Rosaiah are also active in neighbouring Karnataka,where the target is BJP Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa. There are several Reddy MLAs in the Karnataka Assembly who were financed by the powerful Bellary mining barons who have business links with Jaganmohan Reddy,the late YSR’s son. Jaganmohan’s followers threaten that if the Congress high command does not make their man chief minister soon,he could float a regional outfit,the YS Reddy Congress,which would also give shelter to the BJP’s Reddy rebels in Karnataka.

Hobson’s choice

A fallout of the drive on cutting costs was a Finance Ministry proposal to hire taxis rather than buy new cars for various government departments. Now there is a re-think on the economy of hiring taxis since the taxi bills per month are more than double the projected figure. Most taxis were hired not just for the standard eight hours but for round-the-clock operations. At a recent meeting in the ministry,Pranab Mukherjee pointed out that purchasing vehicles seemed a cheaper option. But this time the minister did not take into account the cost of petrol,parking and overtime for the drivers,while calculating the total cost of a new vehicle to tax-payers.