Eye on election

Should President K.R. Narayanan decide to seek a second term there will be no opposition to his candidature. The Vajpayee government has finally established a fairly comfortable working relationship with him, with only occasional pinpricks such as the President’s recent objection to being briefed rather belatedly about the Agra summit. In any case it is the Congress, not the NDA, which will be the deciding factor in the presidential poll next year. The Congress together with its allies controls 11 state assemblies and has the largest share of Rajya Sabha votes.

The 82-year-old Narayanan, however, is likely to opt for retirement because of his frail health. Vice President Krishan Kant hopes that he will be the automatic choice as his successor, in the event of Narayanan stepping down. Kant is understandably keen to keep on the right side of the Congress. As chairman of the Rajya Sabha, when Kant enters the House, whether by accident or design it is noticeable that he greets the Opposition before he acknowledges the treasury benches. Last week in the Rajya Sabha, Kant gave the DMK little scope to air its grievances against the AIADMK, the Congress’s ally. Within minutes of taking his seat, Kant peremptorily adjourned the House for the day.

Shotgun methods

Yashwant Sinha, Murli Manohar Joshi, Maneka Gandhi, Arun Jaitley, Madhavrao Scindia, Kamal Nath and I.K. Gujral were part of the distinguished audience which watched BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha’s play Pati Patni Aur Mein in Delhi. The play had no plot, instead the three actors played cameo roles interacting with the audience with off-the-cuff-one-liners. Loktantrik Congress MP Rajiv Shukla was singled out as one of the chief butts of Sinha’s jokes and he walked out at half-time leaving behind Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son Akhilesh who had accompanied him. Some in the audience assumed that Shukla was offended by Sinha’s biting humour. Actually Shukla had to leave half-way for another engagement. He had already seen Sinha’s play earlier having hosted the show in Kanpur and Lucknow.

Dog days in Mumbai

Shiv Sena’s Pramod Nawalkar gained notoriety as the self-appointed guardian of Mumbai’s morals. Nawalkar’s unauthorised vice squads used to scour the city at night humiliating and intimidating anyone vulnerable. Their targets ranged from skimpily dressed bar girls to gay couples looking for a private spot in a park.

Nawalkar is now focussed on an equally undeserving cause. He wants to kill of all stray dogs in Mumbai. The inspiration for Nawalkar’s latest campaign comes from Bal Thackeray’s son Udhav. Sena MLA Sishir Shinde is also propagating the cause. Whether the BJP supports its alliance partner’s latest whim is still to be seen. After all the powerful Mumbai BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha is the son of Ghumanmal Lodha, chairman of the Animal Welfare Board.

Role reversal

The DMK, which was once the government’s least demanding and most dependable ally is reconsidering its options of continuing in the NDA. DMK MPs complain bitterly of the Centre’s unsympathetic attitude in its stand-off with the AIADMK. The DMK had expected the central government to dismiss Jayalalitha after five DMK men were killed in the police firing last Sunday. But unlike Karunanidhi’s midnight arrest drama when the governor Fatima Beevi was asked to submit an immediate report and then later dismissed, the Centre has not badgered acting governor C. Rangarajan for a report on the firing.

The Centre’s feedback has come largely from BJP state unit and from Vaiko. Both have mainly blamed the DMK for deliberately provoking a confrontation with the police. The DMK is also furious with the government for not pushing more forcefully for the transfer of the three offending state police officers. The DMK’s problem is it has few options, if it leaves the alliance with its 12 MPs, the AIADMK with 10 MPs could step into the gap.

Watch dog or lap dog

The new CVC bill transforms the CVC’s position from that of a watch dog to a lap dog, feels N. Vittal. He is also bitter over the bill’s provision that a retired CVC is debarred from taking up a gubernatorial or presidential post, whereas this does not apply to comparable posts like the chairman of the UPSC, CEC or judges.

Incidentally, although BJP MP Jagdambir Prasad Yadav wrote in May to the government questioning some of Vittal’s past actions, the CVC claims he received the queries from the ministry of personnel only at the end of July and he responded promptly. The Rs 4.14 lakh spent by his tenant, the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, on renovations in his house are mostly non-permanent additions like air conditioners. If he drew more than his entitlement of transport allowance while as Chairman of the Public Enterprises Selection Board, it was because he was invited by numerous professional bodies to speak on information technology.

Ghar ki murgi

Long after the Summit, BJP President Jana Krishnamurthy is still complaining about the insult. He was not invited to the prime minister’s lunch in honour of General Musharraf, whereas the presidents of most political parties, not just from the NDA but also from the Opposition were, he points out. Is it a case of ghar ki murgi dal barabar?

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