Opinion Yours,mine and ours

Some Congresspersons are fortunate enough to straddle two camps. Digvijay Singh is one of the few from the old guard who has managed to strike a rapport with Rahul. MoS in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan often acts as the link between the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi.

Bureaucratic gridlock

The future of the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) remains in doubt,judging by the reservations voiced at the first two meetings of the Cabinet committee on security,which discussed the proposal. Based on a US government model,the grid would coordinate information from 21 agencies and provide a common information pool on terror tracking and intelligence gathering. The Law Ministry raised issues of violation of privacy laws and other ministries also had objections.

The appointment of Raghu Raman,an executive from the private sector who visualised the concept,as CEO of the grid has annoyed a powerful battery of bureaucrats. His salary of Rs 1.5 lakh is much higher than that of even the Cabinet secretary. Besides,the grid will tread on the turf of several departments. Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar wants to entrust the responsibility for okaying the project to NSA Shivshankar Menon. But Menon is reluctant to be the final clearing authority.

Missing picture

On the eve of the BJP national executive in Indore,there was a large picture of Queen Ahilyabai Holkar on the tent meant for Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj. But the next day,the picture was removed and instead,placed on the tent of former party president Rajnath Singh. (Ahilyabai is an iconic figure in the region and was referred to by party President Nitin Gadkari in his speech.) No one seemed to have an explanation as to why the picture was removed from the tent of the senior-most woman in the party. Another injustice was that Swaraj’s name was linked with Maneka and Varun Gandhi as among those who moved out of their tents and into a hotel. Since Swaraj had in fact put up with the hardship of living in a tent for four days,braving the freezing cold at night and shortage of water in the toilet,she was understandably annoyed. Her indignation was directed at party spokesperson Prakash Javdekar,who had not bothered to correct the wrong impression purveyed by a scribe at a press briefing.

No more JJ number plates

AIADMK functionaries compete to secure the number 4777 for their vehicle number plates by paying Rs 30,000 to the transport authority. The number is considered auspicious as it is associated with the late MGR. Another fad is for a plate,which includes the letters JJ,which are the initials of party supremo J. Jayalalithaa. A car licence plate with JJ and 4777 advertises the owner’s support for the AIADMK. The DMK government wants to put a stop to such political statements. It has asked the transport authority to issue new guidelines stating that the two alphabets on a car licence should be in consecutive order.

Demanding generation

The menu for parliamentarians in Central Hall is easy-to-serve items like soup,dosa,vada-sambar and bisi bele bhath,since it is quite a distance from the central kitchen. These simple dishes may have been okay for the older generation. Young parliamentarians at the General Purposes Committee demanded more exciting fare. Their complaint seems to have been heard. The Railways,which handles the catering in the Parliament complex,has decided to move the kitchen closer and broadbase the menu. It is even contemplating subcontracting to private caterers to ensure our law-makers are well fed.