The Babas all business

The setting was a high-profile wedding where Reddy was seated at a table.

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The Babas all business

That the Baba Ramdev empire embraces major commercial interests is now known to everyone. But,back during the early stages of the UPA regime,one of its senior ministers,Jaipal Reddy,already had a taste of the yoga gurus business-like approach. The setting was a high-profile wedding where Reddy was seated at a table. Ramdev then an upcoming yoga teacher arrived to bless the couple. Immediately after,he spotted Reddy and came straight to him,exuding a lot of warmth. Ramdev told Reddy he had some work to discuss with him. When Reddy asked him what it was about,he said that it was about a television channel he was planning to launch and if Reddy as the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister could help. Reddy an agnostic by choice told him that he had just become Urban Development Minister,and was not I&B Minister anymore. After hearing this,Ramdev didnt waste a second and abruptly left without exchanging any more pleasantries.

Anonymous rebuke

After the editorial in Congress party mouthpiece Sandesh,disapproving of the four ministers visit to the airport to meet Baba Ramdev,Congress leaders let it be known that editor Anil Shastri had been ticked off for giving his personal opinion in the publication. Congress media department chairman Janardan Dwivedi declared that the editor has been advised accordingly. Nobody in the party was,however,willing to say who spoke to Shastri. It appears the purported rebuke to Sandesh editor was only for public consumption.

Whos at home?

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While a change of guard took place at the Cabinet Secretariat yesterday,with Ajit Kumar Seth taking over from K M Chandrashekhar,there is impatience in bureaucratic circles regarding the decision on the next most powerful post in the hierarchy. Home Secretary G K Pillai retires at the end of this month and there is still no decision on who will succeed him. Interestingly,Pillais own appointment to the post two years ago was made more than two months in advance. He served as Officer on Special Duty in the Home Ministry during that time to ease himself into the job. Clearly,there is no possibility of that happening now. Last heard,a shortlist of three candidates was being considered for the job. Bihar Chief Secretary Anup Mukerji,who lost out in the race for Cabinet Secretary,is learnt to be not too keen for the post of Home Secretary. He is said to have conveyed his preference to continue in his present job.

White noise

It is not just the government that is feeling the heat from civil society activists. Opposition leaders are unnerved too by the rising popularity of people like Anna Hazare or Baba Ramdev. NDA convenor and JD (U) president Sharad Yadav was recently approached by a group of intellectuals and activists asking him to launch a campaign in the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament against the governments decision to club caste census with the BPL survey. Yadav told them it would turn out to be a futile exercise as the din surrounding the issues raised by Anna Hazare and Ramdev was likely to drown out everything else in the Monsoon Session.

Tailpiece

Heard at the BJP headquarters: If Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran also goes to the jail,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh can form a Group of Ministers to suggest jail reforms. And this would be one GoM which would not be headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.