Wedding jamboree
BJP President Nitin Gadkari picked a bad month for his sons wedding. Because of Delhis sweltering heat,the reception had to be held indoors in the Ashoka Hotel convention hall which was quite a squeeze. If the weather had been cooler,a football field would have been more suitable for the venue because of the number of guests. The whos who of the BJP was present at the function. It was noticeable that Narendra Modi did not go up to the table where L K Advani and Sushma Swaraj were sitting. Sonia Gandhi stayed away,but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came to greet the couple as did numerous non-BJP leaders. Industrialists who showed up included Hinduja brothers,Ambanis,Ruias,Jindals and Mittals. There were also a large turn-out of ordinary party workers.
Non-resident governor
Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah has been governor of Tamil Nadu for the last eight months but he has spent less than half his time in the state. Instead,he is constantly touring Andhra. In fact,when the PM visited Chennai recently,Rosaiah was not there. Rosaiah is still dabbling in Andhra politics. According to official guidelines,a governor is supposed to leave his state only once in six months and if he wants to move out more frequently,he has to get special permission from the President. Former presidents R Venkatraman and KR Narayanan were sticklers about the rule but president Pratibha Patil does not interfere in Rosaiahs travels.
Going native
US ambassador to India Nancy Jo Powell is no stranger to the sub-continent. She has been ambassador to Pakistan and Nepal. Her previous assignments in India were as consul general in Kolkata and political counsellor at the US embassy in New Delhi. Guests to her residence are charmed by her informal,approach and her fondness for Indian attire. At her dinners,Power has been known to show up in a salwar-kameez and chappals and serve her guests chicken tikka curry.
Between the lines
Veteran journalist Kuldip Nayars autobiography,Beyond the Line,which is to be released next week,has many nuggets of historical information. For instance,Nayar recalls that after Nehrus death,the two politicians in the reckoning for the PMs post were Lal Bahadur Shastri and Moraji Desai. Shastri believed he could defeat Desai but not Indira Gandhi if she were in the race. To avoid a contest,he asked Nayar,who had formerly been his information officer,to suggest to Desai that the ideal candidate to head the government would be Jayaprakash Narayan. Shastri asked Nayar to carry a message to Desai,proposing that both of them back out and let either Narain or Gandhi be the prime ministerial nominee. Desai turned down the suggestion describing JP as a confused person and dismissing Gandhi as that chit of a girl.
In solidarity
At Gadkaris sons wedding reception,the attendance from his home state cut across party lines. Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan flew down for the wedding as did several of his Cabinet colleagues,including Chhagan Bhujbal. Former CMs Vilasrao Deshmukh,Sushil Kumar Shinde and Ashok Chavan came for the reception and so did NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray had attended the Nagpur reception.
Still untouchable
When the MoS in the PMO V Narayanasamy was asked by the media how a secular party like the Congress could share the same platform as the communal Shiv Sena for the presidential election,he merely said,You better ask Pranab Mukherjee. Actually,it was Sharad Pawar and a Mumbai-based businessman who managed the Sena support. Although the Sena was the first NDA ally to back Mukherjees candidacy,the Congress continues to treat it as untouchable. In contrast,the Congress is keen to cultivate the JD(U) and wean it away from the NDA. The Sena was not asked to file the nomination forms for Mukherjee. In contrast,two ministers went to Sharad Yadavs house to obtain his signature. Mukherjee also called on Yadav to thank him.
Prayer no answer
In his soon to-be-released posthumous memoirs,A Grain of Sand in the Hourglass of Time,Arjun Singh has confirmed he fled Bhopal hours after the gas from the Union Carbide factory left a trail of death. His detractors have always accused the then CM of Madhya Pradesh of disappearing from the city the next morning. Gas nikli adhi raat,Arjun bhaga ratoon raat was a slogan in the following election in the state. In his autobiography,Singh has claimed he flew to Allahabad the next morning to pray for moral courage at the chapel of his school,St Marys Convent. But surely providing relief and assistance was more important than prayer at that crucial juncture?
