So much for Jai Kisan. Like disinvestment and Ayodhya, drought is another topic that provides a chance to make well-rehearsed interventions. On Wednesday, when a short duration debate began in the RS, the repetition was so stark that it could not be allowed to pass without comment. Vice-Chairperson Najma Heptullah remarked at the near desolate House. ‘‘There is a drought in the House. It’s time we stopped discussing the drought. Maybe that brings some rains.’’ A member said: ‘‘It did rain yesterday.’’ But the lady got the last word. “It seems that was before we had decided on this debate. Rains were off as soon as we accepted the motion for short duration discussion,”she said.Conspiracy TheoryIs God’s Own Country being deliberately kept out of the loop? Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress certainly implied so during Zero Hour in Lok Sabha. He claimed that BSNL was deliberately withholding sim cards from consumers in Kerala — all to assist private operators to mop up the market.Below the belt, at kneeCongress’ Mani Shankar Aiyer likened India’s stand on Iraq with the PM’s knees — a description the BJP dubbed as being in bad taste. “The PM’s knees have been surgically corrected but the Govt’s knees are knocking against each other,” he said during a debate on Iraq. He was criticising the Government’s stand on Iraq saying it lacked the will to stand up against the “lust for dominance” of the us when France has taken the lead in opposing any military aggression.Diplomatic FoundationsThe Ministry of External Affairs will switch from the rent to ownership model for its missions abroad, Minister of State Digvijay Singh told Lok Sabha. In cities where its chanceries function out of rented accommodation, the Government will seek to acquire land and construct its own missions. For starters, he added, land had been located in Abuja (Nigeria), Dhaka and Warsaw.
