Security blanket

Actually Rao is not so fearful of the threat to his life. He is more apprehensive that he will lose the ambulance and doctor which are kept as a stand-by at his residence as part of the SPG security drill.

The SPG practice of posting an ambulance round-the-clock was introduced because of the frail health of our geriatric leadership. At Almaty Prime Minister Vajpayee was the only head of government with an ambulance constantly in his motorcade, leading to reports in the Russian media that the Indian PM was unwell.

Missing in action

A strange omission at the Almaty conference was External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh. The minister was also missing during the PM8217;s earlier trip to Singapore and Cambodia.

Singh seems to have come to terms with the reality that Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra takes total charge during the PM8217;s foreign visits.

Singh may be one of Vajpayee favourite ministers, but Mishra scores over him thanks to his sheer proximity to the PM and his foster family.

Mishra arrives at the PM8217;s Race Course Road residence by 9 am, does not leave for his residence till night and is reluctant to let the prime minister out of his sight for a moment.

Doublespeak

The PM8217;s speech at Almaty was in Hindi except for last minute additions in response to General Musharraf8217;s speech, which were in English. A journalist suggested that the switch in languages midway was because Brajesh Mishra cannot write in Hindi and there was no time for secretarial assistance.

Actually, both Vajpayee and Musharraf have learnt the publicity trick that the key sound bytes should be in English for the benefit of international television channels.

Thus, Musharraf8217;s May 27 address to Pakistanis in Urdu was bold and belligerent where he constantly referred to India as 8216;8216;the enemy8217;8217; and warned that Pakistanis were willing 8216;8216;to shed their last drop of blood if necessary.8217;8217; But in his English conclusion directed to the west, Musharraf spoke only about the need for peace in the neighbourhood!

IRS reward system

Just a week before Central Economic Intelligence Bureau Director General A K Pande8217;s retirement, the CVC finally cleared him of a corruption case which had blotted the last two years of his service.

The charge was that Pande8217;s son Aditya had accepted Rs one lakh as scholarship money from a trust floated by a firm which was being investigated by his father. Pande, known throughout his career for his integrity and firmness with his staff, accused IRS official Sandeep Prakash, against whom Pande had investigated a corruption case, of deliberately framing him.

The dubious scholarship trust was mischievously included in a list of genuine scholarships for which the son 8212; who has a brilliant academic record 8212; was routinely applying so that he could pursue a post graduate engineering degree at Stanford University in the US.

Unlike Pande, Prakash has powerful godfathers. In March 2001 the CVC recommended major penalty proceedings against Prakash in a Rs five crore fraud investigated by the CBI. But the chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs, K L Verma, dragged his feet over taking action.

Last month Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha ordered that the case against Prakash be dropped. In contrast although Pande was empanelled for the post-retirement job of Settlement Commissioner in Kolkata, Sinha prevailed upon the Cabinet Committee on Appointments not to select him.

It didn8217;t help Pande8217;s case that as CEIB director the telephone conversations taped by his department reportedly included those of the minister, senior revenue officials and two journalists.

Godhra bogie

Three months after the Godhra carnage, there is still no official version of how and why the ill-fated compartment on the Sabarmati Express was torched.

It seems the Modi government is waiting for the Nanavati-Shah Commission inquiry report to let us know. Considering that the commission has a five-month time frame and will in all probability seek an extension, we will have to wait quite awhile. Equally curious is the fact that not a single government servant 8212; whether from the local administration, CID or the Railways 8212; has been penalised for gross dereliction of duty.

The four men from the Railway Police Protection Force present at the spot were excused on the ground that their job is to protect railway property, not the passengers. One would have assumed that they could have at least have fired in the air to protect the compartment if not the hapless humans inside!

House hunting

Here is confirmation that President K R Narayanan has given up the idea of trying for a second term. Last week Narayanan dispatched an aide to identify suitable government bungalows where he could stay after he retires.

The short list includes two large bungalows on Safdarjung Road close to former president R Venkatraman.

Illustrations by Ajith Kumar