A question of identity for PMs media advisor

NOTWITHSTANDING its sloppiness in the preparations for next years Commonwealth Games,the Suresh Kalmadi-led organising committee is not leaving any stone unturned in trying to impress the member countries. To deal with the security concerns of some of the countries,the organising committee has come up with an innovative idea. It has asked the government to provide NSG cover to each of the delegates who are coming to participate in the week-long general assembly of the Commonwealth Games Federation from Thursday. The Delhi government is also playing ball and has offered to treat Prince Edward of England the vice-president of the Federation as a state guest which will entitle him to high security and ceremonials. Now,if only putting up a decent infrastructure and making other arrangements for a successful Games was also this easy.

Re-naming NREGA

THE decision to name the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) after Mahatma Gandhi had quite a few dissenters in the Cabinet,although they chose not to air their views when the Cabinet took up the issue for approval. Some legal experts of the Cabinet were of the opinion that an Act could not be named after an individual. Rural Development Minister C P Joshi,however,countered them citing Sarda Act (Child Marriage Restraint Act,1929),which had been named after the author of the Bill,Harbilas Sarda. His Cabinet colleagues were apparently not convinced as they said that the period when Sarda Act was enacted was different. Besides,the change was being made not in a proposed Bill,but in an Act. These discussions,however,remained in informal domain as nobody formally raised the legal aspects in the Cabinet. The government had already taken the clearance from the Election Commission of India.

Writing Madams speeches

CONGRESS president Sonia Gandhi has got a new speechwriter former journalist Pankaj Sharma who recently joined party mouthpiece Congress Sandesh as an Associate Editor. While Sharmas draft is cleared by AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi,who has been Sonias main speechwriter for a long time,the two dont see eye to eye any more. It was Dwivedi who got Sharma for the party mouthpiece,but the latter has apparently managed to grow out of his political patrons shadow. Before joining the Congress Sandesh,Sharma had a long stint as a journalist with several Hindi newspapers.

Making space for Rahul

ITS not just the Congress gatherings where the partys new hierarchy is visible. At the annual Dussehra celebrations in the Capitals Ramlila Ground,the large posters of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi had to be re-arranged at the last minute to accommodate a still larger poster of Rahul Gandhi.

MoD media gag on IAF

AMONGST the defence services,the Indian Air Force is considered to be most open,frank and straightforward when it comes to public interaction. Even after the Mumbai terror attacks last year,the IAF was the most vocal in Cabinet meetings about taking direct action against Pakistan. However,it seems this has now caused trouble with the Ministry of Defence. A letter has been sent to all senior IAF officers in the Capital asking them to refrain from talking to the media. The letter,which was sent about two months back,asks them to also avoid functions where there may be a large media presence. This,even as Defence Minister A K Antony prides himself for his and the MoDs transperancy.

Murlis Facebook politics

WITH the BJP caught in an internecine war amongst its top brass,senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi is charting his own course hes planning a nation-building conclave of his followers,many of whom he met on the Internet. After his website proved a non-starter,the BJP leader who has traditionally enjoyed excellent relations with the RSS has found Facebook to be an ideal medium to connect with his followers and eventually plan a nation-building conclave. While Joshi refuses to reveal much about his nation-building conclave,one of his recent messages on Facebook read: Till date,only 217 amongst you have sent their contact addresses and details… All of you will be sent a brief note on what we are planning for (this) nation building conclave. Your suggestions shall be embedded to make it a successful target oriented model.

The RSSs filmy connection

ACTOR Vivek Oberoi and his family seem to be the Sangh Parivars favourite in Bollywood. The RSS had expected Vivek to be present for its ambitious Gau Gram Yatra (nationwide yatra espousing the Swadeshi cause of the cow and Indian villages),which it calls the biggest mass mobilisation project since the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. But Vivek failed to appear on the appointed date,leaving his father,Suresh Oberoi,to do the honours at Kurukshetra,where RSS general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi was among those present. The father-son duo had also campaigned for the BJP in the last general election.

The unknown MP

RECENTLY,senior SP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav visited the CGHS dispensary earmarked for MPs to get his prescribed medicines. But those manning the dispensary counter failed to recognise the MP,who took the trouble to visit it personally with his CGHS card. An argument ensued,as Yadav tried to prove his status as MP to the staff,and finally got the medicines.

A house for S M Krishna

A VAASTU believer,External Affairs Minister S M Krishna rejected two houses before he settled for the one at 1,Tyagraj Marg. The buzz is that the first house allotted was at 19,Teen Murti Lane,which was earlier occupied by Natwar Singh. During renovation work,a Vaastu expert visited the house and warned Krishna that he may share a similar fate as Natwar if he moved in. The next house allotted was at 14,Tughlaq Road,which was earlier occupied by former Law Minister H R Bhardwaj. Aware of what happened to Bhardwaj,Krishna didnt want to move into that house either. The official reasons given for not taking the houses: dilapidated condition for the first one,and proximity to the Metro construction site for the second.

Tailpiece

RAILWAY Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has shot off many letters to Home Minister P Chidambaram demanding action against the Left Front government in West Bengal. The latest,just before Dussehra,however stood apart. After a detailed account on how the Left had unleashed a bloodbath during the festival period in West Bengal,the firebrand leader ended on a rather sweet note,extending her Dussehra greetings to Chidambaram. At the end of the letter,the handwritten sentence read: Happy Dussehra to U.

When Manmohan snubbed Vijayakanth

TAMIL actor-turned politician Vijayakanths visit to Delhi last week turned out to be a disappointment for him. The DMDK chief had plans to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to raise the issue of attacks on Tamil fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy and sit on a day-long fast at Jantar Mantar. With AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa on a political sabbatical,his idea was to capture the Opposition space. But although he sat on a fast and made repeated efforts,he could not secure an appointment with the Prime Minister,who had met a delegation of DMK and Congress MPs on the same issue some days back. Now,the talk is that the PM didnt want to ruffle the feathers of ally DMK by giving an appointment to Vijayakanth,who has been accusing the Tamil Nadu government of failure to protect the interests of Sri Lankan Tamils and Tamil fishermen.