Opinion Who’s in charge?

Equally curious is the MEA protest to Pakistan over Khar’s meeting with Hurriyat leaders in Delhi.The Hurriyat leaders,some of whom are under house arrest in Kashmir,could not have met the Pakistani foreign minister in the Capital without clearance from the Home Ministry.

Subtle propaganda

When Ambika Soni first became Information and Broadcasting Minister,there was a pending proposal for the winding up of the dance and drama division and the field publicity unit as part of the administrative reforms. Instead,Soni has used the opportunity to modernise the division,which was stuck in a groove,producing shows focusing on dramas and dances from the freedom movement. A new dance drama produced by the division called “Jamunia—Badalte Bharat ki Tasveer”,has a contemporary theme relating the story of an orphan girl who overcomes many difficulties,including gender bias to become sarpanch of the village. The show,which premiered some months ago in Rai Bareilly,Sonia Gandhi’s constituency,is drawing large crowds in rural areas. The mention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s name in the script is understandable,but references to the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is viewed in some quarters as political propaganda.

Back-breaking problem

Since the Telangana issue remains unresolved,MPs from the region,including those from the Congress,refuse to attend Parliament. Speaker Meira Kumar,meanwhile,is sitting over their resignation letters. While Ghulam Nabi Azad,who is in charge of Andhra in the Congress party,has not been able to break the deadlock,he has at least benefited from the suggestions of the Andhra representatives regarding his back problem. There are two doctors in the Telangana negotiating team,Dr Geeta Reddy and Dr M Jagannadham. The delegation of MPs and MLAs from the rest of Andhra also has two medicos,both sides offered differing advice as to how Azad can best cope with the acute pain in his spinal disc which makes it difficult for him to sit.

Fitting the bill

A K Antony,Janardhan Dwivedi and Ahmed Patel,the three Congress leaders chosen along with Rahul Gandhi to guide the party in Sonia Gandhi’s absence all possess the attributes Gandhi favours most. They are low key,non-controversial,self-effacing and not overtly ambitious. Antony’s political star is rising. Earlier,he was designated number three in the ranking of cabinet ministers,after Pranab Mukherjee and Sharad Pawar. Now he seems to have gone a step ahead of even Mukherjee.

Reining them in

It was decided before the Parliament session that the Opposition would not resort to obstructionist tactics and seek adjournments,but try and corner the government through debates and discussions on the floor of the House. But it took over two days for the message to sink in. The BSP needed special persuasion since it was keen to retaliate over the land acquisition controversy in UP. Political parties like the SP and Shiv Sena do not want to be left out and feel the need to make their presence felt. But apart from these smaller parties,it is difficult even to rein in some of MPs from the bigger parties. For instance,it is always difficult to restrain the BJP’s S S Ahluwalia in the Rajya Sabha. JD(U) president Sharad Yadav noted resignedly: “You can’t convert a horse into a cow overnight.”

Programmed for debate

BJP leader Yashwant Sinha had decided to boycott TV news channels. He feels that the debates have descended into shouting matches where the anchor does not give the speaker a fair chance to express his views. Earlier,Sinha agreed to interviews,but has now put his foot down even for these. He is miffed that one-to-one interviews are often used as clips in a debate format.