Opinion Who came first?

Questionable loyalties

Shankersinh Vaghela has been out in the cold and generally ignored by the Congress ever since his electoral defeat in 2009. It came as a bolt from the blue for most Gujarat Congresspersons when it was announced this month that the “outsider’’ Vaghela was to be chairperson of the campaign committee for the 2012 state assembly election. It seems that the Congress got wind of the fact that Vaghela,once a BJP man,was looking for fresh pastures. One option was for Vaghela to head the NCP’s Gujarat unit. Meanwhile some in the BJP,unhappy with Narendra Modi’s national ambitions,were keen to invite Vaghela back into the fold. A meeting was arranged between a close associate of Vaghela from Surat and a top BJP leader from UP.

Speechless in Parliament

Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi lost his voice and could not speak during the last Parliamentary session. MoS in the PMO V Narayanasamy had to answer questions on Ravi’s behalf. By the fag end of the Parliament session,Ravi had regained the full use of his vocal chords. The problem was that by then because of the many adjournments,Parliament could not transact any business and Ravi did not get an opportunity to speak. Ravi discovered something was wrong with his vocal chords nearly two months ago when he found his voice growing softer and his speech getting slurred. Medical investigations revealed that one of his vocal cords had got paralysed by infection. He went to a hospital in Cleveland for treatment.

Journey to nowhere

L K Advani seems to have learnt little from his past experience with rath yatras. He has led five yatras and except for the first Ram Mandir yatra of 1990,the rest of his country- wide tours were resounding failures. Few remember what his Janadesh Yatra of 1993 or Swarna Jayanti Yatra of 1997 were all about. The Bharat Uday Yatra was to highlight the “India Shining’’ campaign. It ended with the BJP losing the 2004 election. But the biggest flop show was the Suraksha Yatra of 2006. After being forced to give up his post as party president,Advani hoped to remain relevant by focussing on the terrorism threat. The then party president Rajnath Singh tried to steal Advani’s thunder by announcing that he would join the yatra. The BJP and RSS cadres were unenthusiastic about organising crowds and it ended in a whimper. It is unlikely that his latest yatra on corruption will revive his political fortunes. Anna Hazare questioned the genuineness of Advani’s purpose in taking out a yatra. Despite public denials,in fact,Advani’s plans came as a surprise to his own party. The sangh parivar is unlikely to pull out all the stops in arranging cheering bystanders along the way. The yatra is less about corruption and more about him looking for a platform to ensure he stays in contention for the party leadership in 2014.

Junior in seniors’ territory

The rule is that only Cabinet ministers attend cabinet meetings. Ministers of state with independent charge are specially summoned when there is some business relating to their ministry. An official in the Cabinet Secretariat indicates to the ministers of state when their presence is required and when they should leave the room. MoS for Environment Jayanthi Natarajan regularly attends Cabinet meetings even when issues concerning her ministry are not on the agenda. Since the concerned Cabinet Secretariat official is too intimidated to remind her,a senior minister had to inform Natarajan that as a junior minister,she should not be attending these meetings.

Removing the paint

Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi has cancelled the jarring practice of painting the windows of railway trains for the benefit of advertisers. Advertisements painted on the outside glass meant that passengers could not look out of the windows and view the passing scenery. Trivedi feels the ad revenue lost through this avenue,is more than compensated by making travel for passengers a pleasurable experience.