Opinion Carefully crafted

Rs 16,000. Despite these handicaps,Ghosh’s position is unassailable since she is backed by none other than Pulok Chatterjee,Sonia Gandhi’s adviser who has worked in both the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and the PMO.

No twinkle of recognition

Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar was master of ceremonies at the banquet hosted by Canadian PM Stephen Harper for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to Toronto for the G-20 summit. Kumar’s wife Twinkle was given pride of place at the head table next to Manmohan Singh,which irked some hierarchy-conscious Indian officials. Kumar is Canada’s tourism ambassador for India and was a torch bearer at the Canadian winter Olympics. Harper,who met Kumar last year in Mumbai,is clearly enamoured of him. He mentioned the actor more than once in his official banquet speech. The filmstar announced he planned a sequel to his hit film Singh is King and he would dedicate it to Singh. Despite the gracious gesture,Singh made no mention of Kumar in his speech.

Diplomacy at home front

The home ministries on both sides of the border are generally perceived as dampers in building bridges between India and Pakistan. But,during the recent bilaterals in Islamabad,it was Home Minister P Chidambaram who took the initiative in breaking the ice. Chidambaram held a joint press conference for Indian and Pakistani journalists. Since the cold war in the wake of the 26/11 attack in Mumbai,Pakistani journalists have not been invited to official Indian briefings. Chidambaram held a joint press meet with his Pakistani counterpart,Rehman Malik,and so did Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries,Nirupama Rao and Salman Bashir. As a gesture of goodwill,Malik gifted each Indian scribe a box of mangoes. The Home Ministry,has even issued visas to 11 Pakistani journalists to tour Delhi and several other Indian cities.

Switzerland of Africa

Since the last Parliament session,Lok Speaker Meira Kumar has been constantly on the move. Her work has taken her to Swaziland,Hungary,Luxemburg,Kashmir,Bhutan and Mongolia. As a former diplomat,Kumar believes she can combine politics with diplomacy. In Swaziland,she attended the Commonwealth Parliamentarians’ Association. In Bhutan,Hungary and Mongolia,she held bilateral talks with parliamentarians. In Kashmir,a conference of speakers was conducted peacefully,despite the ongoing turmoil in the Valley. Being Babu Jagjivan Ram’s daughter automatically opens doors. For instance,to Bhutan,she carried an old snapshot of her father with the king’s grandfather. There is an interesting footnote to Kumar’s visit to Swaziland. Bihar assembly speaker Udai Narain Chaudhary,who was part of the delegation,was taken aback on arrival because he had assumed he was flying to Switzerland. Kumar comforted him by pointing out that Swaziland was equally scenic and known as the Switzerland of Africa.

Tortoise wins the race

Private TV news channels tend to patronise Doordarshan,assuming they are much faster on the draw and more professional in covering news. But on Manmohan Singh’s recent visit to Toronto for the G-20 summit,it was DD which had the last laugh. On the journey back home,while briefing the accompanying media party,the PM disclosed that in the wake of the petrol hike,diesel prices would also have to be raised soon and other subsidies withdrawn over time. Since it was nighttime in India,the journalists agreed that the news would be embargoed till noon IST. At 12 p.m. the next day,Doordarshan promptly flashed the news while the private TV channels were caught napping. In fact,all TV channels had to credit DD for this breaking news.