That the DMK’s clout at the Centre has gone down is an accepted fact now. But the Tamil Nadu party’s decision to silently ignore the Centre’s move to divest up to 10 per cent of its stake in profit-making public sector units surprised many as it had earlier publicly spoken against disinvestment. In fact, the timing is significant as the change of heart comes at a time when the CBI is turning its heat on Telecom Minister A Raja. Interestingly, Raja himself was present at the CCEA meeting which cleared the disinvestment proposal. Both he and DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi, who first outlined the DMK’s opposition to disinvestment, chose to remain silent. While a section of the DMK is ready to believe the government’s argument that disinvestment was necessary to ensure that social sector programmes don’t run out of funds, some leaders see a “Raja angle” to the party’s silence.

Dalai Lama’s Tawang connection

EVEN though the Dalai Lama has been in India for five decades now, his current visit to Tawang is only his fifth — including the time when he escaped from Tibet via Tawang. The other three visits were in 1983, 1997 and 2003. It’s believed that he was keen on going last year as well but Indian authorities were not too enthusiastic, and so informal channels were activated to avoid the trip. This time, however, matters got public beforehand. Nonetheless, the Dalai Lama is expected to keep the visit “strictly religious”. Still, that hasn’t stopped the state government from pushing for a programme where he can address state government employees.

... contd.