24 hours too late on Telangana

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama’s meeting with leaders of India,China,Brazil and South Africa (BASIC) on the final day of the Copenhagen climate conference has generated much interest. Most accounts of that meeting describe how Obama gatecrashed into the room where the BASIC countries were holding a meeting. Many of them also reported a minor scuffle between Obama’s security and Chinese men guarding the room. The official version from China,which had major verbal duels with the US at that conference,however is much more charitable to Obama. “Obama stood with one foot outside the gate and asked Premier Wen (Jiabao of China) with smiles if he should wait outside or join the discussion. Premier Wen stood up and politely invited Obama to join them. Obama accepted and walked around the room to shake hands with all the people present before taking a seat,” says the account from two Chinese journalists accompanying Wen to Copenhagen. The Chinese Embassy in India circulated this account to convey what really happened during Wen’s Copenhagen visit.

Paswan’s early Happy New Year

POLITICALLY marginalised,Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan was pleasantly surprised last week when he received a New Year greeting from UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Paswan was happy that Sonia had not forgotten an old friend,particularly with the greeting coming at a time when he and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav were counting on joining hands with the Congress post-elections in Jharkhand. The JMM and BJP’s impressive performance,plus the Congress’s good showing with ally Babulal Marandi,however,put paid to their hopes.

Mamata sees red in a salaam

RAILWAY Minister Mamata Banerjee took the top brass of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) by surprise when she declined to take the general salute of the parade at the force’s Investiture Ceremony last week. While there was no official reason given for her decision,the move sparked off all kinds of speculations in the Railway Ministry,ranging from the assertion that this was the minister’s way of expressing displeasure with the force to the argument that she was not comfortable taking salute of any Central government force given “the role played by Central forces” in her home state West Bengal,particularly Lalgarh. So while Mamata just presented the medals to the award winners,it was left to Minister of State K H Muniyappa to take the salute and inspect the parade as well.

Young blood for ailing AI

AIR India CMD Arvind Jadhav seems to be placing more faith on outsiders — and young outsiders at that — as he tries to stage a turnaround for the loss-making company. AI has decided to hire a new corporate communications chief from outside,snubbing the next-in-line for the job from within the cadres of the national carrier. The job advertisement put out by AI says the candidate should not be more than 45 years of age. The in-house claimant,on the other hand,has less than a year to go for retirement. Then there is the curious case of a young IBM employee who happens to be at the side of the CMD at all crucial meetings. He accompanied the CMD even to a recent meeting of Group of Ministers. There is no word on the status of this CMD trustee who draws his salary from IBM but is more often seen in the AI office.

Poll autopsy uncovers skeletons

IN THE postmortem following its defeat in the Uttar Pradesh Firozabad bypoll,where party chief Mulayam Singh’s daughter-in-law was defeated,the Samajwadi Party is uncovering several bitter truths. The party now believes that Mohammed Adeeb,who was elected to the Rajya Sabha barely a year ago with the help of the SP,quietly campaigned against the party candidate in minority areas. As per the SP’s own assessment,the party lost substantial minority support to the Congress thanks to this. Incidentally,Adeeb’s name was given approval at the insistence of Amar Singh. Interestingly,Singh has now come up with a new minority face — party hopper Obaidullah Azmi — for next year’s Rajya Sabha elections.

Haj politics: Ahamed vs Tharoor

UNION minister E Ahamed has been nursing a grudge against MoS for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor ever since reports surfaced about irregularities in Haj quota allocation during UPA I. Rightly or wrongly,Ahamed got the impression that Tharoor,who now looks after Haj affairs,was behind the media report. Recently,the Muslim League MP got a chance to get even with Tharoor when he met PM Manmohan Singh along with a delegation of Muslim MPs to present a charter of demands. It is learnt that Ahamed urged the PM to hive off Haj affairs from the MEA and give the same to the Minority Ministry. Several members of the delegation supported the call.

CISF gets a not so Lovely request

CISF permitting private entities to avail of its security personnel on payment has elicited quite a response. Besides the info tech companies and Taj Hotels,CISF had a surprise applicant in Phagwara’s Lovely Professional University. The Vice-Chancellor said he had made no such request,but Chancellor Asok Mittal admitted an application had been sent. However,it is not any high threat perception that prompted him to knock on the CISF’s doors. It is simply the possibility of a better-equipped and trained,state-of-the-art CISF security guarding him that appealed so much to Mittal. The CISF turned down the request.

Roads Secy eyes Highway hot seat

BETWEEN Kamal Nath’s ministry and M K Alagiri’s,there is quite a flutter in the babu circles. While Secretary,Roads,Brahm Dutt is keenly eyeing the NHAI Chairman’s post,current NHAI Chairman Brijeshwar Singh — who hails from the Tamil Nadu cadre and was appointed by former minister for Surface Transport T R Baalu — is now in contention for the next Pharma Secretary under yet another DMK minister,Alagiri. The Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister recently succeeded in shunting out Fertiliser Secretary Atul Chaturvedi after differences between the two. Now,Pharma Secretary Ashok Kumar wants to leave the ministry as well and Brijeshwar Singh is expected to be sent in to retain Alagiri’s good humour. Dutt’s contention for the NHAI top job,however,has not exactly amused the PMO. It is learnt that Dutt may actually be Member-Secretary of the panel that will select the next chairman and this,the PMO feels,will be a conflict of interest. Further,Dutt is due to retire in June and that may work against him. Speculation is rife that Kamal Nath is likely to replace Dutt with DG,Foreign Trade,R S Gujral.

Advani gets invite for 3 Idiots

Vidhu Vinod Chopra,the producer of 3 Idiots,sent a special invite for the Mumbai premiere of the film to BJP leader L K Advani,a known movie lover. Chopra,incidentally,knows Advani and addressed the BJP leader as “Dada” in the letter. However,Advani wasn’t able to attend the premiere and is hoping to catch the film in Delhi in the coming weeks.

The sore Soren

A DAY before Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren struck a deal with the BJP to form a coalition government in the state,his son Hemant Soren had called up senior Congress leaders in New Delhi proposing that if his father was not acceptable to them as chief minister,they could consider his candidature for the top job. Congress leaders,however,told Junior Soren that they could offer him the deputy CM’s job at best,as the Congress along with the Jharkhand Vikas Mocha wanted to lead the government,with the JMM being the supporting partner. Hemant hung up on the deal at that suggestion and the next day he was the proud son of his father,supporting a BJP-JMM tie-up instead.

Singur again,in Mamata’s words

TRINAMOOL Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is leaving no stone unturned in her battle with the Left. The grapevine has it that she is writing a book titled ‘Singur’,which will focus on the agitation against land acquisitions in Nandigram and Singur that turned around her political fortunes. Scheduled to be released at the Kolkata book fair early next year,the book will first appear in Bengali,but the politically smart leader wants it to be translated in Hindi,English and Urdu too. The busy Railway Minister,by the way,was heard saying that juggling multiple responsibilities,the only time she gets to write is while flying.