Dead hotline

There was panic in the government during the Parliament session last month when it was found that RAX...

There was panic in the government during the Parliament session last month when it was found that RAX, the hotline telephone which connects top-level babus and ministers, was dead. Senior secretaries to the Government of India had problems contacting each other at a time when the government was under attack in Parliament for inflation and food shortages. RAX is the only surefire way for key persons in government to get through to each other immediately. Despite the uproar in the corridors of power, MTNL was not able to restore the RAX line for three days. The telephone line had snapped during digging work for the Delhi Metro near Krishi Bhavan. The MTNL could not locate the fault and eventually laid an auxiliary RAX line.

Sing(h)ing her own tune

Kanti Singh, the new MoS in the tourism and culture ministry, has yet to be allotted an office. Her personal staff has still not been appointed. A furious Singh, who is a member of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD, has decided to take matters in her own hand and not wait for official clearances. Earlier this month she visited Dubai and asked a director in the culture ministry, who is from her home state of Bihar, to accompany her. Singh calls the director her private secretary, although the appointment is yet to be cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). The MoS has informed the culture secretary that if she doesn’t get a room of her own soon she is moving into his office. Although the ministry of urban development allotted Singh space in the shipping and transport ministry, the minister, T.R. Baalu, refuses to spare the room and has given his objection in writing.

Enviable green

Maneka Gandhi’s convictions, whether on animals or environment, are reflected in her home. For years her house has been a sanctuary for stray dogs who wander around at will, often occupying the best chairs and sofas. The garden in her MP’s bungalow on Ashoka Road reflects her green philosophy. Gandhi does not believe in manicured lawns and flower beds and has no use for the CPWD gardener allotted to her. She prefers to let the plants in her compound grow wild. She has added to the vegetation by planting a variety of fruit trees and shrubs. Thanks to the thick foliage, trees, and numerous birds, you feel you are in the middle of the countryside and not in the heart of Lutyens’ Delhi. The yellow crocuses which grow wild in the thick grass during the monsoon add to the rural landscape. Gandhi’s home was formerly the office of the CPM and the front garden had been cemented to make one large parking area. Gandhi is keen that the communist leaders visit her house to see for themselves the difference between a green outlook and uprooting of foliage to lay concrete slabs. However, Gandhi has not even been able to convert her immediate neighbour, A.R. Antulay, to her philosophy. The minister for minority affairs axed several full-grown trees in his compound without any formal sanction.

Congress gameplan

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L. K. Advani’s memoirs My Country, My Life were meant to showcase the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate and dispel the image of a hardline Hindutva leader. As Advani notes in his book, nothing matters more to him than his credibility. The Congress, however, has a gameplan up its sleeve to tarnish Advani’s image. The Liberhan Commission, which has been enquiring into the role of Advani, Uma Bharati, Murli Manohar Joshi and others in the Babri mosque demolition for more than 15 years, is expected to release its finding just before the general elections. The Congress believes that the commission, which has been granted 41 extensions, will pass strictures against the BJP leader.

Price for patch-up

Sonia Gandhi personally pleaded with former railway minister Jaffer Sharief not to resign from the Congress. She promised to make amends for the mysterious removal of the name of Sharief”s grandson, Abdul Rehman, from the list of Congress nominees for the Karnataka assembly, even though the AICC had cleared him. The price for mollifying Sharief may be steep. He is willing to settle for nothing less than the governorship of Maharashtra or the ambassador’s post in Saudi Arabia.