Opinion Old order remains

Family ties unravel

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna may not be out of the woods despite winning the trust vote in the Assembly. Since Uttarakhand does not have an upper house, he has to be elected to the legislature in the next six months. BJP president Nitin Gadkari is hopeful of persuading BC Khanduri to contest against Bahuguna in the by-election. Khanduri as CM earned a lot of goodwill and there is considerable sympathy for the manner in which he was narrowly defeated in his constituency,Kotdwar,thanks to internal sabotage. Bahuguna,on the other hand,has to contend with Congress dissident Harish Rawat’s faction. He reinforced his outsider image by attending his first felicitation party in Allahabad rather than Uttarakhand. Bahuguna is keeping his fingers crossed,hoping that Khanduri will not contest against him because of family loyalty. The two are first cousins.

A formidable presence

At the banquet for the Emir of Qatar at Rashtrapati Bhavan,both the hostess,President Pratibha Patil and the chief guest’s wife,Sheikha Mozah,came covered from head to toe,but there was a world of difference in their respective style statements. While our president was in a long sleeved blouse and traditional sari,Sheikha Mozah was turned out in a fitting purple gown. Her head was wrapped in an elegant net scarf. With her fashionable high-heeled shoes,the Emir’s second wife and mother of seven,towered over the president. Sheikha Mozah,52,is not just a figure head in Qatar but plays an active role in the country’s politics and social issues. It was thanks to her efforts that Qatar was successful in its bid to host the Football World Cup in 2022. Sheikha Mozah was the one who persuaded the late M F Husain to take citizenship of her country and offered him a reported Rs 100 crore for painting the history of Islam.

Pleasant exchanges

Pawan Bansal,who played minister-in-waiting to Pakistani President Asif Zardari during his recent trip to Delhi,had some very pleasant exchanges with his guest during the flight from Delhi to Jaipur and Ajmer. The K-word never cropped up in the conversation nor did the arrest of Hafiz Saeed. Although a Sindhi,Zardari is fluent in Punjabi and praised the Capital’s green landscape,comparing it to Lahore. He admitted he was visiting Delhi for the first time although he is familiar with Mumbai which he had visited in the past for New Year’s eve festivities before his marriage to Benazir Bhutto. Son Bilawal did not take part in the conversation but spent his time tweeting. The normally loquacious Interior Minister Rehman Malik also remained silent in the presence of his boss.

Clueless about cricket

American pop star Katy Perry wowed the TV audiences watching the inaugural ceremony of the IPL in Chennai,but spectators in the stadium were less enthusiastic. Perry who had been specially flown in for the event,seemed clueless about cricket,even though she was once married to Englishman Russell Brand. When Sachin Tendulkar was introduced to her as one of the icons of the sport,Perry asked innocently,“What position do you play?’’ She seemed to be under the impression that cricket must be some variation of football.

Back together

Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and her aide VK Sasikala are back together. On April 2,they visited a Ganesha temple in Chennai. Three days before the temple ceremony,Sasikala issued a statement saying she was disassociating from all her relatives and apologised for harming the AIADMK cause. When Jaya TV carried her statement as the lead news,it was an indication that a patch-up was in the offing. Meanwhile,a dozen of Sasikala’s relatives have been suspended from the AIADMK and four,including,her husband and a nephew,are in jail.