ROLE REVERSAL Their roles have now changed. Former Union home secretary R K Singh who won the Lok Sabha election from Bihar on a BJP ticket, visited RSS office at Keshav Kunj in Delhi and met Indresh Kumar among others. It is obvious that he wants his name recommended for a berth in the next government. Interestingly, he as the home secretary was monitoring the terror cases linked to the saffron brigade and in which Indresh Kumar was under scanner. ONE KULDEEP TOO MANY Having as many as seven Kuldeeps against him in the Hisar parliamentary constituency did have some impact on Haryana Janhit Congress chief Kuldeep Bishnoi’s poll prospects, though it didn’t really matter in the final outcome. While Bishnoi lost to Indian National Lok Dal’s Dushyant Chautala by a margin of 31,847 votes, all the seven other Kuldeeps in the fray polled as many as 13,025 votes amongst themselves. Not that Bishnoi would have won the seat had these other Kuldeeps not contested, but his fight could have been much closer. IN CHARGE, FOR NOW Caretaker home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde will hold a pledge taking ceremony on May 21, the death anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. The death anniversary is also observed as anti-terrorism day. Shinde who suffered a crushing defeat at the recently concluded Lok Sabha election has resigned but is looking after the ministry till the next government takes charge. Shinde has asked the officers and staff at the Home Ministry to be present during the early hours on May 21. LAST-MINUTE REJIG The last of the appointments made by Chandresh Kumari Katoch as Culture Minister was that of the Director General, ASI. Rakesh Tiwari — until recently Director, State Archaeology Department of Uttar Pradesh — was finally appointed DG a day before the election results. Tiwari — who had to wait to take over the ASI top job for nearly a year after he was selected owing to litigation issues — has finally taken charge. Bringing back an archaeologist to the body had been a priority area of the UPA government to revive cultural institutions. Meanwhile, IAS officer Pravin Srivastava who was officiating as DG so far, now goes back to his previous job as Member Secretary, National Monuments Authority. COURT ROOM BANTER The first hearing in the Sahara case before a new bench of the Supreme Court threw up certain unusual moments. When the counsel for Sahara sought to convince the bench how they managed to “generate” thousands of crore for refunding investors, the bench said in a lighter vein: “It appears to us as nothing but ‘topi ghoomane ka’ business (bid to befool people)”. Responding, the counsel said everyone does this but problems begin only when all “topis” (investors) start asking for money at the same time. Later, the bench also used a couplet by Mirza Ghalib to describe Subrata Roy’s condition as he cools his heels in a prison for last 75 days .
