Talbott, the author

Foreign policy experts are rubbing their hands in anticipation of finally getting a peek into the famous Strobe Talbott-Jaswant Singh securi...

Foreign policy experts are rubbing their hands in anticipation of finally getting a peek into the famous Strobe Talbott-Jaswant Singh security dialogue of 1998-99. What the Indian Government classified as confidential, top secret, etc. forms much of the substance of Talbott’s new book, Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy and the Bomb. As an ex-journalist, the news sense of this former Deputy Secretary of State in the Clinton Administration was on high alert through those critical talks that followed India’s nuclear test in 1998. And he cleverly marked the minutes of the dialogue ‘‘For Eyes Only’’, which made them a restricted document but not top secret.

Singh, on the other hand, kept the minutes under wraps by invoking the Official Secrets Act. Now, of course, the cat’s out of the bag. Talbott’s book has cleared one hurdle by being approved for publication by a State Department committee. It’s gone for other approvals and is expected to hit bookstores in a few months.

Cong’s charm fails

Although neither belongs to the Congress, the party seems to have taken rather personally the decisions of Arif Mohd Khan and Feroze Varun Gandhi to join the BJP. The scion of the rival faction of the Gandhi clan apparently received a surprise phone call from Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit after he and his mother formally became members of the saffron clan. Dikshit is believed to have asked in a rather wounded manner why Varun chose the BJP. If he had given any indication of his desire to become politically active, the Congress would have accommodated him, she told him, according to the party grapevine.

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While it’s not clear whether Dikshit had a brief from the Congress president to talk to Varun, Sonia made it her mission to stop Khan, although technically he’s not even a member of her party. Khan’s is a curious case. In 1996, the fallen hero of the famous Shah Bano controversy knocked at the BJP’s doors. But Advani turned him away, saying the party could not admit a man who had spewed vitriol against it. Yet, today, the same Advani gave Khan the nod. In the meantime, as his frustrations with the BSP mounted, Khan sent feelers to rejoin the Congress. The party’s UP leaders sabotaged the move because for some obscure reason, they felt Khan would be a rival. It’s only when the BJP started announcing from the rooftops that Khan was their latest catch that the Congress was galvanised into action. But it was too late.

Dinner diplomacy works

GUESTS at the last round of Sonia Gandhi’s media dinners, this time for the regional press, got a shock at the end. As they were leaving, a woman scribe representing a northeastern newspaper suddenly started shouting, ‘‘Sonia Gandhi zindabad.’’ She was obviously quite overcome by 10 Janpath’s hospitality and this was her way of saying thank you. Her colleagues maintained a polite silence but the incident prompted a party leader to joke that he was waiting for the day when those journalists known for their close ties with BJP leaders respond to the Congress in a similar fashion. Sonia’s dinner diplomacy has won her several friends in the media. Many of the journalists entered the closely guarded precincts of 10 Janpath for the first time. It was also their first interaction with the Congress president. They’ve come away quite star-struck.

The other Mahajan’s woes

It’s rare for a party to change a sitting MP’s constituency but Minister of State for Petroleum Sumitra Mahajan is a worried woman these days. The reason: she’s earned the wrath of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharati who is believed to be pressing to hand over Mahajan’s constituency of Indore to small screen’s Krishna, Nitish Bhardwaj.

Mahajan is a five-time MP from Indore but during the recent Assembly polls in MP, she went into deep sulk and hardly campaigned for the BJP. The RSS, which was in charge of the campaign, is believed to have made a note of Mahajan’s apathy. The MoS is now running from leader to leader to save her seat.