An officer and a gentleman

and requested him not to raise the issue of his trip in Parliament. True to his word, Manmohan never did, and even assured Malik he would do nothing to lower the morale of troops fighting in the Kargil sector.

Forgetting the norm

It was no doubt a busy Wednesday for Defence Minister A K Antony, but does politicking come before ministerial duties? Antony chose to attend a dinner with UPA allies, followed by a Congress core group meeting, rather the gallantry awards ceremony for servicemen who died in combat. It is a convention that after the investiture formality, the Raksha Mantri spends time with the bereaved families, offering both solace and encouragement to them. It was a big disappointment Antony was not present on this solemn occasion. Meanwhile, Pranab Mukherjee also made it a point to attend the UPA dinner and the meeting before embarking for Japan on a bilateral visit.

Looks of a potential winner

Mayawati is the toast of the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre. Apparently there is nothing the BSP’s Behenji can’t get done in Delhi today. Much has to do with her security requirements as she simply does not trust the Mulayam Singh Yadav government to give her adequate cover. First, the UPA granted her special permission to take her vehicle to the airport tarmac. Now it’s learnt that Mayawati has been allowed to beef up her security during her poll campaign. She is allowed more NSG commandos, who were left back in Delhi, to travel with her.

The old hand

The Ministry of External Affairs seems to be grappling with some serious personnel issues—finding the right person for the right job. Two months after posting out a key official who had been at the heart of negotiations in the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Ministry suddenly discovered it needed him back as the deal is far from done. So, just as a fresh round of negotiations begin on the 123 bilateral agreement, the Ministry asked the official to fly back for a few days to participate in the talks. Naturally, this has not gone down well with many.

Pet food for thought

It was a admirable repartee. After VK Malhotra quipped that the Finance Minister’s sop on pet foods was like Queen Marie Antoinette’s famous quote, “Give them cakes if they don’t have bread!”, the ministry reminded the BJP of one significant fact. The ministry’s missive reads, “Pet food falls within tariff item 2309.10 of Chapter 23 of the Customs Tariff. The rate of duty was 40 percent. It was reduced in the 2000-1Budget to 35 percent. It was further reduced to 30 percent in the 2002-3 Budget. On both occasions, the Finance Minister was Shri Yashwant Sinha.” It adds, “We think your readers should know these facts before they consider the criticism levelled by some sections of the political circle.”

Five-star perks

Now that the Indian Air Force has got its own five-star marshal, Arjan Singh, the government is contemplating a uniform policy in the Sixth Pay Commission for five-star rank officers. There seems to be considerable confusion in this regard after some disparities in benefits were highlighted between Singh and the only other five-star army officer, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. To avoid enlarging this into a showdown among the forces, the PMO is believed to have stepped in and asked for details.

Udderly enchanted

It was the bucolic tete-a-tete between Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Israel’s visiting Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz that fired the meeting at Rail Bhavan. After bombarding Mofaz with his favourite “turnaround” story”, Yadav was taken aback when the Israeli leader mentioned that he used to milk cows during his school days. “Thereafter, the two ministers discussed at considerable length topics about rearing of cows and buffaloes,” said a top Railway Bhavan official who was privy to the meeting.

Behind the scenes

While the Congress and the CPI(M) were busy tackling Nandigram and its not-so-happy fallout, UPA partners have been busy building alliances. There was some agility in Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat’s camp regarding the presidential race after two UPA heavyweights, the NCP’s Sharad Pawar and RJD’s Lalu Yadav visited the V-P, not once but several times, that too, together.

The good shepherd

LK Advani’s intervention may have served to mollify the BJP’s disenchanted MP Adityanath from breaking away from the party over distribution of tickets to his followers in Uttar Pradesh. But it came after a series of disastrous attempts by the party to keep the flock together for the crucial polls. One of them was to send MP and former UP state president Vinay Katiyar to Adityanath. It backfired because, as the angry MP complained to party president Rajnath Singh later, Katiyar sat with him for a long while, sipped his tea, spoke of party unity and brotherhood but went back without offering a compromise formula. And to top it all, Adityanath’s animosity to Katiyar is well known. No surprise then that all subsequent moves by the party to bring him in were unsuccessful, and it finally required Advani to talk to Adityanath.

Compliments, or are they?

The BJP has left few in doubt about its sentiments for the late Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, under whose tenure the Babri Masjid was pulled down. It was the BJP and not the Congress that sprung to his defence after Rahul Gandhi’s recent remarks about the probability of the Family saving the ill-fated mosque. Party leaders condemned the Gandhi scion calling him a “political novice,” “contemptuous” and “ill-mannered” for attacking someone who could no longer defend himself. Rao’s sympathisers are now wondering if the poor PM could have done without his new supporters because it is once again raising questions about whether Rao was a BJP PM in Congress garb.

Tailpiece

Congress leader M Veerappa Moily is on cloud nine after being named as prospective presidential candidate by some channels and newspapers. Of course, Moily is all coy saying he is unaware about these developments. But he has suddenly become an extrovert. Last week, he hosted three luncheons for journalists from Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu—he is the party observer for Kerala and TN, while Karnataka is his home state. After all, it pays to be on the popularity charts.