Opinion Grudge match

The delegation of ageing sports heads which called on the PM to protest the order claimed that Manmohan Singh was puzzled by the timing of the controversy,just five months before the Commonwealth Games. Actually,before firing his salvo,Gill had consulted both the PM and the Attorney General. Gill’s assertion that the Sports Ministry has merely redrafted long-prevailing guidelines is not quite accurate. The guidelines were originally drawn up in 1975 at the behest of Sanjay Gandhi during the Emergency and were ignored after 1977. In fact,in 2001,Uma Bharti,before stepping down as Sports Minister,wrote that the guidelines should be kept in abeyance. The ministry under Margaret Alva’s tenure as HRD Minister was not able to enforce its own regulations since the court ruled that sports does not come under the concurrent list. But,this time,the ministry will take the argument that while it may not have legal jurisdiction over state sports bodies,it has jurisdiction over national sports associations.

Dig at Diggie

Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh was finally granted an audience with Sonia Gandhi,but only after he had first made a statement in Lucknow,expressing regret for his public remarks against the Home Minister on the Naxal issue. The message that he needed to make amends was conveyed to him through a senior Cabinet minister. Singh was apparently provoked to write the article,hitting out at P Chidambaram,because the Home Minister had refused to consider changes in some of the clauses in the draft Bill on communal violence which have upset minority bodies like the Muslim Personal Law Board. The anti-Diggie Raja faction in Madhya Pradesh,meanwhile,is busy taking a dig at the party general secretary,making the point that the term “intellectual arrogance”,which he coined for P Chidambaram,is a pretty apt description of him as well.

For her ears only

The only person present when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi met UPA chief Sonia Gandhi was his daughter,Kanimozhi,who acted as his interpreter. Obviously,Karunanidhi had something confidential he wanted to share with the Congress president. After 15 minutes,DMK leaders T R Baalu and Dayanidhi Maran,who came along with the chief minister and Kanimozhi to 10 Janpath,were permitted to join the deliberations. Fertiliser Minister M K Azhagiri,who was not invited to accompany his father,is sulking,particularly as he had specially stayed back in Delhi—he is normally away in his home state.

No apology

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee lost his cool with several of his party MPs who he feels were unnecessarily provoking the Opposition and stalling the smooth functioning of Parliament with their wisecracks and interjections. The Parliament is not a state assembly,the aim should not be simply to provoke,we have to get the budget passed,was his cautionary advice to his party colleagues,including two ministers. Mukherjee was less successful with the UPA allies. Despite his remonstrations,Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay,refused to take back the words “shut up”.

Sibal’s rush to reform

It is not just the Opposition,but an influential section of the Congress too,which is up in arms over Kapil Sibal’s sweeping education reforms. Sibal first alienated all MPs by snatching their privilege to nominate two students annually to central schools,since restored. Now he has got the powerful lobby of politicians who run engineering and medical colleges in states like Karnataka,Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh,up in arms. Sibal’s proposal for a common entrance exam for technical and professional institutions and permitting foreign universities to set up shop has infuriated the private education lobby.