Others
- Lalu’s daughter will also rise
Fly on the wall I Harish Gupta
Shekhawat’s helping hand
Many theories are doing the rounds about how the Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani finally clinched the much-delayed and much-deserved PM-in-Waiting title. More than the RSS, it was former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee who was blocking Advani’s political race to 7, Race Course Road. It was Vajpayee who stalled Advani’s "coronation" at the party’s Bhopal national executive by sending a last minute letter suggesting that he was still around and could not be ignored. As for the RSS leadership, though it had come to realise that there was no alternative to Advani in the present situation, it didn’t talk to Vajpayee about leaving the race, as its relations with the former PM were not good. In fact, RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan and Vajpayee were not even talking to each other for months. It seems that former vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, an astute politician, played a key role in clearing the decks for Advani. It was he who impressed upon Vajpayee that if Advani was not declared the BJP’s candidate for Prime Minister at this juncture, the party should forget about returning to power in 2008-2009. Since Shekhawat and Advani had never shared cordial relations, the former’s support was a surprise. But once Vajpayee agreed, it was smooth sailing for Advani. It’s a different matter that he is yet to cross the second hurdle, becoming the leader of the NDA.
Life as usual after EC notice
The Election Commission may have created a stir by serving notices to both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Narendra Modi, giving the impression that chief election commissioner N. Gopalaswami will do something earth-shaking, but nothing seems to be happening in Nirvachan Sadan. In fact, both notices are likely to be discarded. One of the explanations apparently given by the CEC to a confidant is that since the days of T.N. Seshan, 200-odd notices have been issued to leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Arjun Singh and a host of other politicians and state chief ministers for alleged violations of the model code of conduct, but no action has been taken against any of them after the elections. It seems the EC will stay quiet this time as well.
The no-nonsense IT minister
Union communications and IT minister A. Raja is living up to the no-nonsense image he acquired when he was environment and forest minister. He is giving a taste of his tough temperament to telecom operators like Airtel, Vodafone etc. On the issue of spectrum allocation, he is fighting a battle with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, finance minister P. Chidambaram and law minister
H.R. Bharadwaj among others. His argument is simple: He will follow the policy laid down by the government on spectrum allocation, and if that benefits Anil Ambani, so be it. The ruling by another no-nonsense person, Justice Arun Kumar of Telecom tribunal TDSAT, rejecting an affidavit by GSM operators on spectrum allocation, has come as a shot in Raja’s arm. Now everyone is wondering about whether they should go to court or follow what Raja is saying.
Lalu has RS plans for Misa
Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav seems to have taken a "joke" cracked by one of his MPs rather seriously. When Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, M. Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi and N.T. Rama Rao’s daughter Daggubati Purandeswari were seen chatting in the Central Hall of Parliament, Lalu couldn’t resist commenting to his RJD loyalist MPs,
that the chief ministers’ daughters had formed their own club. To this, one
of his loyalists said,
"The day should not be far when Misa too joins the club." Lalu enjoyed the comment so much that he nodded his head in the direction of the MP and said, "Shabaash (excellent)." It seems that Misa, Lalu’s eldest daughter, who was born during the Emergency when Lalu was in jail, will be brought to the Rajya Sabha in 2008 to join the club of CMs’ daughters.
Third ring likely for Advani
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and PM-in-Waiting L.K. Advani may have been taking pot-shots at each other, but the day Advani was named BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Singh issued directions to the security agencies to review the security cover provided to the Leader of Opposition. Advani is already in the Z-plus category and has two round-the-clock security rings provided by black cat commandos of the NSG and the Delhi police, with the assistance of plainclothesmen from the IB. The government is now thinking of providing him with a third security ring. The national security adviser will be taking a final call on the issue in consultation with the Union home ministry.
- Nitish angers babus
Dilli ka babu I Dilip Cherian
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar might have bitten off more than he could chew when he decided to elevate his development commissioner R.J. Pillai to replace A.K. Chowdhury, the retiring chief secretary. The appointment has torn apart the state’s already caste-ridden babudom. For some time now, Nitish has had to face allegations that members of a particular caste have bagged all the important posts in the state government. It is no coincidence, detractors point out, that these babus belong to the same caste as the chief minister. In an attempt to silence his critics and maintain the delicate "caste balance," Nitish then pushed for Pillai, a 1973 batch babu, only to have the move backfire on him.
Pillai has risen to the top post by leapfrogging over five 1972 batch officers. These include M.N. Prasad, K.D. Sinha, Veena Chhotray, R.C. Vaish and M.M. Singh. In fact, most babu watchers were confident that Sinha, currently the senior-most member of the state revenue board and the most eligible for the post, would be the natural choice. But Nitish could not risk another round of accusations, so Sinha fell by the wayside.
Unfortunately, by trying to do the "right" thing, the chief minister has managed to upset several senior babus, besides the ones who were vying for the post. Those in the know say that the resentment among the tribesmen is palpable. More worrisome for Nitish, of course, is the prospect of some of these babus challenging Pillai’s appointment in court, as some have threatened.
But some babu-watchers are unwilling to sympathise with the chief minister’s plight. Apparently, the government had given several indications about its intentions, particularly when Pillai was given the pay scale of a chief secretary, months prior to his appointment. So it should have anticipated the fallout. Now with reports of an aggrieved Sinha planning to put in his papers and others talking of moving the court, Nitish’s cup of woe may be close to running over.
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ASI recasts rules
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which manages the conservation of more than 3,600 protected monuments including 21 World Heritage Sites across the country, is now planning to amend its rules that would allow construction activity near these monuments. According to those in the know, the organisation is finalising a new draft amendment on conservation rules, for submission to the ministry of culture soon.
To many observers, the conservation rules, framed way back in 1959, are obsolete and have failed to restrict construction and encroachment activities around these monuments. More often than not, the ASI comes out as the villain for framing "harsh" rules that only encourage people to flout them. Now, according to A.K. Sinha, superintendent in charge of monuments, the organisation has realised the problem and the new proposal reflects this new thinking. Since ASI cannot completely check construction, it will redefine its rules so that conservation and development activities go hand-in-hand.
Lest builders and property developers rejoice at what sounds like good news, Sinha says that the ASI has sought to give itself more legal powers to handle those who flout the rules. But observers fear that the ASI’s record in this respect has not been particularly impressive. In fact, the ASI babus and their counterparts at the ministry of culture may have a tough time justifying the new rules to environmentalists and conservationists who are already concerned about the poor state of conservation in the country. One may hope that the new rules end up serving the cause of conservation and not hasten the demise of our threatened monuments.
- The low-down on heavy petting, sorry, wrestling
Cloum No. 1 I Cyrus Broacha
Today, with all the options available to youngsters, such as the IT sector, medicine, entertainment, mass media and the stock market, I was pleasantly surprised when my son said after a lot of deliberation, that having given it a lot of thought, he had decided to become a wrestler. A professional wrestler. Being the doting father (which up to age three meant I patted his forehead on two separate occasions per week), I decided to brush up on this new industry which is making many young would be doctors, engineers and item numbers review their options.
This is what I found out after weeks of studying this virgin market, an