It was a well-timed comeback bid last Friday for long-ailing HRD Minister Arjun Singh. As the buzz about his deteriorating health got louder, and names for his job began doing the rounds, it was a resolute Singh who decided to take matters in his hands. At his press conference, he ensured his officers, joint secretary upwards, were present, but ensured none of his political colleagues—junior ministers—were. He wanted a solo show, an hour-long performance at his Akbar Road residence. However, he didn’t say much because Parliament, he reasoned, was in session. So he chose to pass the buck on contentious issues
Fission in the backyard
The N-deal with the US is on its last stretch and the naysayers are back in business. No, it is not the Left but unwilling consorts within the system. The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is once again at odds with the MEA even as the PMO tries to broker peace. South Block is crying foul about the “Mumbaiwallahs”—like DAE chief Anil Kakodkar, who have gone public on some of the tough negotiating points with the US. Even the Americans are annoyed complaining that India is carping on issues that have already been addressed ad nauseam. Looks like the Prime Minister will have to intervene personally to get some cohesion back in the team and facilitate closure on what is so far his biggest diplomatic success.
No ticket for the Navy
Now it turns out that the cricket World Cup hosts had asked for more than just an NSG team with bomb detection experts for the tournament. Alarmed by the threat assessments of terror attacks, particularly against teams like India, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) asked New Delhi to also consider sending a naval ship to help patrol the coast besides providing other help like sending its elite commando force. While the NSG did go, the Navy could not send its boat as that would have taken two months to reach the West Indies. So, the Caribbean’s turned to Britain for help. Last heard, a British frigate was on its way. The South Africans too have sent some 70 security experts who have been deployed with CARICOM’s Armed Forces.
Appeasing a minor star
Party biggies Arun Jaitley and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi are not the only ones miffed at being dropped from BJP President Rajnath Singh’s new handpicked team. According to Singh himself, the party’s Minority Morcha chief Shahnawaz Hussain is extremely upset at being pushed into this new job after being dropped from the BJP Parliamentary Board. Hussain not only stopped coming to the party headquarters on Ashoka Road, but he even left town to avoid running into Singh. However, the two finally met when it was no longer possible for Hussein to dodge his chief. According to Singh, he gave his minority wing chief a pep talk on the important tasks he had cut out for him. And for good measure an impressive felicitation ceremony was held for Hussain last week. Singh was present too, a move that surely did no harm to image of the new Minority Morcha chief.
Fall guy
Congress ministers seem to spare no occasion to embarrass Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who is often left bearing the brunt of the UPA government’s mistakes. Inflation is now a “supply side problem” and there are some who want a ban on futures trading in agricultural commodities, a Pawar initiative, apparently because they believe it to be “the sole cause” of rising prices. Then Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, worried about missives from 10 Janpath and 7 Race Course Road on foreign direct investment in retail, says, “As industry minister, I can only decide on the FDI policy. Whether big retailers should be allowed in or not is a question that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs (read Pawar) should be looking at.” And who can ignore how the name of Pawar, who is also president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, is being dragged into the controversy over the telecast contract with a private TV company and Doordarshan’s demand for terrestrial rights?
Missed goal
A coordination blip in the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry led to the collapse of one half of a sporty weekend for MPs. On Saturday, in true political spirit, the ministry invited MPs for an athletics event at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, including a tug of war and musical chairs. But just seven MPs turned up. The minister, P R Dasmunshi, himself had to skip the event as he had to install a new chief minister in Meghalaya. Finally onlookers and mediapersons were roped in for the tug-of-war. But at the National Stadium, the MP XI and SAIL XI had a fabulous cricket match thanks to the personal initiative of Steel Minister Ramvilas Paswan. Minister Pallom Raju demonstrated his commitment to sports by attending both the events.
No quarters given
His son may have built hundreds of houses and hit the headlines for a lucrative land deal in Mumbai in partnership with Raj Thackeray, but Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi has remained homeless in the Capital since his election to the Rajya Sabha last April. But then, he himself is to largely blame for his current woes: he insists on a bungalow with a large garden so that he doesn’t have to go out for his morning and evening walks. He has refused to move into the houses offered to him, and confides among his friends that Housing Minister Jaipal Reddy is not being exactly helpful. “He is sweet to talk to, but his words don’t match what he actually does,” Joshi is learnt to have told them. Ideally, he would want Reddy to take a cue from his party colleague, Vilasrao Deshmukh, chief minister of Maharashtra, and be as magnanimous. Deshmukh has provided a suite to Joshi in Maharashtra Sadan and told him to retain it as long as he wished.
Tailpiece
How does BJP leader Arun Jaitley manage to keep his track record as lucky mascot for the party in elections? He choose the right states. Partymen were surprised when he was put in charge of western Uttar Pradesh for the coming polls, while Venkaiah Naidu was given responsibility for the whole state. But in due course, and with some coaxing from party stalwart LK Advani, Jaitley was pulled out of UP and given a new assignment—to look after the BJP’s poll strategy for Delhi. Need we now guess where the BJP’s fortunes lie?