Opinion Vadra’s fitness regime

Vadra and Priyanka are enthusiastic supporters of Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders but were conspicuous by their absence from the IPL matches this season. Vadra has reportedly decided to keep a low profile after a business newspaper carried a report pointing out that apart from exporting his brass artifacts,he has moved into the real estate business in a big way.

Bowled over by Sonia

Two ministers of the Pakistan Government make no secret of their special regard for some members of the Indian establishment. Interior Minister Rehman Malik has tweeted more than once,praising Home Minister P Chidambaram. In fact,Malik came down for the Cricket World Cup semi-finals in Mohali in the hope of getting to meet his Indian counterpart. Since that did not work out, Malik has now suggested an Indo-Pak hockey match in Pakistan with a get-together of the home ministers on the sidelines.

Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan is still star-struck after her interaction with Sonia Gandhi. Awan recalls that when she met the Congress president and used the expression “we women”,Gandhi responded warmly by suggesting she use the phrase “we sisters” instead. Gandhi also said there was no need for the two of them to converse in English,since they had a common link in Hindi and Urdu.

Modi’s loosening grip

Mohan Prakash,who was recently appointed by the Congress high command to look after Gujarat,would like to take credit for the defeat of the BJP in the Gandhinagar municipal corporation. But the victory owes more to the disarray in the state BJP than to him. In Mahua,Saurashtra,Narendra Modi could not persuade farmers to surrender their land for setting up a cement manufacturing unit by a leading Gujarat company. The matter is now in court,with a BJP MLA,Kannubhai Kalsaria,leading the agitation against land acquisition. A strike in the Ford motor company in Gujarat is another indicator of cracks in the state’s industrial harmony. In Gandhinagar,government employees have long been smarting from the strict work culture imposed by Modi’s regime. Dismissed home minister Amit Shah who used to be L K Advani’s official polling agent in Gandhinagar and is presently out of jail,was missing in the recent campaign. Perhaps,Shah wanted to make the point that he is indispensable to the party in Gandhinagar

Cheque your facts

Mumbai Regional Congress Committee chief Kripashankar Singh is once again in hot water. The court has asked investigative agencies to respond to a PIL charging him with disproportionate assets. Meanwhile,Singh’s son Narendramohan Singh,admits he received Rs 4.5 crore by cheques from Dynamix during 2008 and 2009. The company is a subsidiary of D B Realty and owned by Shahid Balwa. Recently,there was a complaint to the Congress high command that at a birthday celebration,Singh received 99 cheques each for Rs 25,000.

Delayed return

Uma Bharti had been knocking at the BJP’s door for long and last week it looked as if finally the prodigal daughter would be welcomed back into the fold. Although L K Advani has been pushing for Bharti’s return,others in the party are less enthusiastic,pointing out that nobody can guarantee the stormy petrel’s good behaviour or that she will confine herself to Uttar Pradesh and not meddle in Madhya Pradesh politics. After party president Nitin Gadkari assured that he would take the guarantee for Bharti’s good conduct,her re-induction in the party seemed imminent. In fact,she was expected to join the BJP Ram rally in Faizabad last week. But at the eleventh hour,the move was scuttled. It seems the BJP’s younger leaders,particularly Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan,prevailed. An uncharacteristically subdued Bharti is still waiting to return home.