Hit or fop

Shivraj Patil is known as a natty dresser who takes pains to be immaculately turned out with slickly combed hair, matching ties and handkerchiefs. Which is why wags joke that Patil is an ideal candidate to become the minister of external affairs, in which capacity you interact with dignitaries from all over the world.

Some of Patil’s cabinet colleagues are, however, not impressed by his sartorial elegance. Last week, Patil turned up for a Cabinet meeting in a smart black bandh gala with a red handkerchief sticking out of his coat pocket. Three hours later, there was a second Cabinet meeting and this time the minister was wearing a crease-proof white safari suite. One minister passed a catty chit to another wondering how the home minister had enough time to change his outfits.

Executive dump

The concept of a proper record room for keeping a methodical track of all decisions taken by a ministry is a fairly recent one, points out Wajahat Habibullah Chief Information Officer of the Right to Information Commission. Habibullah recalls that when he was working for former PM Rajiv Gandhi in the early ‘80s he had a glimpse of the record room in South Block and was amazed to discover that along with dusty files piled up haphazardly were all sorts of odds and ends. The room had carpets, trinkets, artifacts and statuettes, since in those days, the record room was not just a dumping ground for old files but also a store house for official gifts to the prime minister.

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