In his attempt to project himself as an alternative to Narendra Modi,Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is walking the extra mile to show how sensitive he is to Muslim concerns. Accordingly,organisers of the grand rally at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday took great care to ensure that the rally timings did not conflict with the afternoon Muslim prayers. It was initially decided that Kumar will speak only after the prayers were over. But there was change of mind one day prior to the event,and it was considered best to finish the rally before the prayers. So,every leader who spoke ahead of Kumar was reminded that due to technical reasons the event had to be wound up before 2 pm and that they should hurry up. Even Sharad Yadav,the JD(U) president,got to speak only for a few minutes. Kumar himself finished his speech at least 15 minutes before the prayer time. Homing In A NEW Home Secretary will have to take charge by June,when the current one completes his two-year term,and names of the probable replacements have started doing the rounds. The name of D R S Chaudhary,a 1977 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre who is currently the Steel Secretary,is being heard the most often. Chaudhary was in the Home Ministry recently,having served as Special Secretary till 2011. Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani is also being considered a strong candidate,though there is a slight problem. With the Director of Intelligence Bureau being a Muslim,the government might be constrained to appoint another Muslim as the Home Secretary. The current secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training P K Misra is in the race too though not many are giving him much chance. Incidentally,he was Steel Secretary before this job,and Additional Secretary in Home Ministry prior to that. Another name doing the rounds is that of Mines Secretary R H Khwaja,a 1976-batch officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre,though he has the same difficulty as that of Usmani. Padding Up PAKISTANI cricketers are not part of IPL,which begins early next month,but the Cricket Board has still some reasons to remain uneasy with regard to the safety of a few international players. Authorities have told the Cricket Board that the security of Sri Lankan cricketers might be an issue of concern,especially in Tamil Nadu where tempers are running high over the treatment of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka. A Sri Lankan monk was assaulted in Thanjavur on Saturday,which has heightened the concern of the security agencies. The Cricket Board is in the process of making additional security arrangements for these players. Plane Panic A DIPLOMATIC intervention was needed to bring back a 12-seater plane of a private industrial house that had made an emergency landing at Karachi airport last week. Authorities at the airport expressed their helplessness in immediately repairing the plane that had developed a technical snag in its hydraulic system during its flight from Dubai to Delhi. Uncomfortable at the prospect of leaving its plane in Pakistan for long,the company made several frantic calls to the Ministry of External Affairs for help. Finally,a group of engineers had to be flown from India to attend to the problem and fly the plane back home.
