Twitter time

Having returned to Twitter, HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju is having interesting conversation with his deputy Shashi Tharoor. One of Raju's first tweets, while he was on his way to Arunachal Pradesh, was addressed directly to Tharoor, informing him that he was back on Twitter. Having got no instant reply, he poked Tharoor again. "@shashitharoor I am on Twitter now", Raju said. Tharoor still did not reply and the next day Raju tweeted about a football match he played against the Arunachal Chief Minister's team in Itanagar and won 2-0. It was only then that Tharoor took note of Raju's presence. "Welcome to Twitter! Good to hear you won the football match in Itanagar. Need to get an MHRD cricket team going." Raju incidentally did not reveal about a foot sprain he had suffered during the match and had to be rushed to hospital as soon as he landed in Delhi.

Spreading the Net

SO far, employees of multi-state cooperative societies like NAFED, KRIBHCO and IFFCO were getting away from corruption-related scrutiny due to lack of clarity over whether the Central Vigilance Commission had jurisdiction over them. However, following Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati's legal opinion, the ministry of personnel has issued an office memorandum clarifying that employees of these organisations fall within the purview of the CVC since they are covered by the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Favoured Official

THE Congress has never been shy of expressing its apprehension that CAG Vinod Rai harbours political ambitions and would follow the example of his predecessor T N Chaturvedi who had joined the BJP. The BJP has rubbished such suggestions. But the Sangh Parivar seems enamoured by the CAG nonetheless. The latest edition of RSS mouthpiece Organiser describes Rai as the "conscience keeper" of the nation "in the absence of a bull-dog opposition". It has also called for a Bharat Ratna for Rai for his "selfless dedication to his job" of unearthing irregularities in government's functioning.

... contd.

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