Opinion Envoy versus minister
If Shiv Shankar Menon has been made the fall guy for the Indo-Pakistan joint statement in Sharm-el-Sheikh,Shyam Saran,the PMs envoy on climate change...
If Shiv Shankar Menon has been made the fall guy for the Indo-Pakistan joint statement in Sharm-el-Sheikh,Shyam Saran,the PMs envoy on climate change,is blamed for Indias capitulation at the Major Economic Forum (MEF) in Italy earlier this month. Minister of State for Environment Jairam Ramesh is upset that Saran did not keep him in the loop before agreeing to be a signatory to the declaration passed by the conference. There was no representative from the environment ministry at the conference. In fact,when the final draft was drawn,the only person representing India was a junior officer in the MEA who is fairly new to the subject of climate change.
Rameshs strong words in the presence of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,that India would not bow to pressure from the West over emission standards,reflected his annoyance over the way Saran had handled matters at the MEF conference and thus compromised Indias development space. With Saran and Ramesh pulling in opposite directions,it is logical that both of them should not handle the sensitive issue of climate change. Normally the minister should take precedence,but Saran,presumably, gets his instructions from the PM.
Unhappy ending
Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon was expecting to be appointed special envoy for Pakistan after his retirement yesterday. But with parliamentarians and the media coming out strongly against his ill-conceived remark of the possible presence of errors in drafting the Indo-Pak joint statement,the appointment has been withheld,at least temporarily till the dust settles down.
According to the buzz,the CPWD was readying a new room in the corner of the first floor of the PMO for Menon. The fact that Menon met Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for some 20 minutes at Sharm-el-Sheikh was another indicator that Menon was slotted for an important post. It is highly unusual for a mere foreign secretary to have a one-on-one assignment with the prime minister of another country. Some in the MEA question why the prime minister needs so many special envoys at all. Already we have Chinmay Ghare Khan for West Asia,Satti Lamba for Pakistan and Afghanistan and Shyam Saran for the nuclear deal and climate change.
No fond farewell
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati invited the departing governor TV Rajeshwar for a farewell dinner,but the governor declined. Rajeshwar proffered the rather weak excuse that because of the drought in the state,as an austerity measure no dinner should be hosted for him. Actually,Rajeshwar got a hint from Delhi that it would be wiser to decline Mayawatis invitation,in the light of what happened in Gujarat. Chief Minister Narendra Modi hosted a farewell party for Gujarat governor Naval Kishore Sharma. As a courtesy to his host,Sharma,in his speech,included a line or two praising Modis skill as an administrator. The state Congress unit took offence to a favourable mention of Modi and promptly reported Sharmas faux pas back to the party headquarters.
Yadav front
The Third Front and the Second Front (the NDA) may be falling apart,but a powerful new alliance appears to have been born. In the Lok Sabha this session,it was noticeable that Sharad Yadav,president of the JD(U),Mulayam Singh Yadav,president of the SP,Lalu Prasad Yadav,boss of the RJD,and Hukumdeo Narain Yadav,an important member of the BJP,all seemed to act in tandem,whenever an issue concerning farmers,UP or Bihar cropped up in the House.
Jayas no-confidence vote
The Election Commission is irked by Jayalalithaas decision to boycott the upcoming by-polls in Tamil Nadu. Jayalalithaa feels that the EC is unable to prevent the use of money power by the ruling DMK and she also questions the reliability of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) which,she points out,have been banned in many European countries because it was found that it was possible to tamper with them. The commission has sought the advice of three former chief election commissioners on how to handle the situation. There is a proposal to reorganise the software of the machine,so that after pressing the button the voter gets an indication from the EVM that his vote has been registered correctly. Another suggestion,which has not been taken seriously,is that the AIADMK should be deprived of its national election symbol of two leaves on the grounds that it does not take part in elections in the state regularly.
Share
