Losing Lalgarh beat
Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen seems to be quite annoyed with the way he is being sidetracked by Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti over the handling of the Lalgarh issue. Last week, for instance, it was Chakrabarti who led a team of senior state government officials to Lalgarh and held meetings with the local administration and people. Further, these days Chakrabarti usually briefs the press about the law and order situation in the state, especially Lalgarh, a job supposed to be done by the home secretary.

From Left to Centre
Is Principal Secretary for Commerce and Industries Sabyasachi Sen moving to the Centre? Grapevine at the Writers’ Buildings has it that fed up with the present state of affairs in his department, which has been in limbo since the Marxists faced the electoral debacle in the Lok Sabha elections, Sen has expressed his desire to move to the Centre on deputation. Many others also believe that Sen, who has been in that post for a record six years, wants to move out because he, along with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Commerce and Industries Minister Nirupam Sen, is held responsible by a section of the CPM for the party’s defeat.

Doctor’s prescription
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee wore a startled and partly annoyed look while the audience and other dignitaries struggled to control their laughter at a function of the state government’s doctors association last week. The CM, accompanied by Health Minister Suryakanta Mishra, arrived a few minutes behind schedule and hurried to take his place on the dais waiting for the speakers ahead of him to finish. A top functionary of the hospital, where the programme was being held, took the podium only to begin his address with the words: “We welcome honourable Chief Minister Shri Jyoti Basu”. As startled laughter echoed in the auditorium, he quickly corrected himself. Bhattacharjee, taken aback, somehow regained his composure.

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