Foot in mouth

But Azad seemed unfazed at the GoM meeting,and,much to the amusement of those present,went on to describe in detail what he had said and meant on the issue

Foot in mouth

Facing flak for his controversial remarks on gay relationships,Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was urged by the Group of Ministers on media to retract and clarify his statement on Tuesday. But Azad seemed unfazed at the GoM meeting,and,much to the amusement of those present,went on to describe in detail what he had said and meant on the issue. When he agreed to explain his stand,Home Minister P Chidambaram,who heads the GoM,suggested it would be better to issue a written clarification as speaking on television could increase the chances of getting into further trouble. Hours later,it was found that releasing transcripts of Azads speech at Vigyan Bhawan could only complicate the issue. In the end,the Health Minister fell back on the standard excuse that he was misquoted by the media.

Family matters

WHILE the restriction on Congress office bearers participation in political activities in the Gandhi family bastions of Rae Bareli and Amethi is a well-known fact within the party,the ambit of restrictions seems to have just been broadened. Party office bearers are learnt to have been advised against participating in Rahul Gandhis tour to villages in Greater Noida and other areas alongside the Taj Expressway. The party apparently does not want any other leader to share the limelight. So,no other senior Congress functionary was seen accompanying Rahul on his tour.

Saffron shock

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THE knives are out in the Jharkhand BJP after the shock defeat of its candidate in the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha bypoll. There are fears that the defeat may revive the factional feud in the state party unit. Hence,the central leadership is being forced to take notice. Chief Minister Arjun Munda and the losing candidate,Dineshanand Goswami,are set to visit New Delhi on Wednesday for consultations with party chief Nitin Gadkari. Goswami has already resigned from the post of state party chief,but it is learnt that Gadkari has turned down his resignation for now.

IDSA race on

WITH the director general of the nations premier think-tank,the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA),set to retire by October,the names of possible candidates are doing the rounds after a new selection committee was formally instituted recently. Veteran diplomat Naresh Chandra is heading the search committee that includes former Air Chief S P Tyagi,Lt Gen (retd) V R Raghavan and former deputy NSA Leela Ponappa.

Marathi Manoos

WHILE they courted even marginal players like RLD chief Ajit Singh ahead of the all-party meeting on the Lokpal Bill,the two important parties that Team Anna did not bother to brief were the Nationalist Congress Party and the Shiv Sena. Sources in the two parties explained that since Bal Thackeray and Sharad Pawar are both from Maharashtra and know Anna too well,he would not have been able to act big with them.