Janta’s mantra

The Congress wants to wrest control of 7, Jantar Mantar after more than 30 years. The once stately bungalow listed as evacuee property has a convoluted history. Allotted to the Congress in 1959, after the party split in 1969 the Congress (O) took possession. In 1977, the Congress (O) merged into the Janata Party, but a shrewd Morarji Desai retained control of 7, Jantar Mantar by forming a separate trust in the name of Sardar Patel which owned the building. Only the second floor was rented out to the Janata Party. With the death of S Nijalingappa, all the original trustees of the Sardar Patel Smarak Sansthan have
passed away.

Taking the view that the trust has now become defunct, party general secretary Oscar Fernandes wrote to the Congress Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit in October 1999 claiming ownership. Fernandes wanted the Registrar of Trusts, which comes under the state government, to revive the Patel trust by appointing AICC office bearers as trustees. Instead, the Delhi government goofed up by trying to get the property registered directly in the name of the Congress. For this procedure, a no objection clearance from the Urban Development Ministry had perforce to be obtained. The central government once it entered the picture was understandably reluctant to facilitate the change in ownership.

The UD Ministry after sitting over Fernandes’s request for long finally referred it to the Home Ministry, which sent it on to the Law Ministry. Fernandes has been badgering the state government with letters for the last three years and they in turn have been sending reminders to the central government, but the impasse continues. Among the numerous authorised and unauthorised tenants and sub-tenants in the three-storey mansion is Sharad Yadav’s Janata (U), and he for one has no intention of moving out.

Triplication of job

It is not just the Ministry of External Affairs which is fuming over the appointment of RSS nominee B K Agnihotri as an ambassador at large for NRIs, L M Singhvi who is the chairperson of the committee on the Indian Diaspora which advises the government on its NRI policy feels that Agnihotri’s post is redundant. Already Singhvi and the additional secretary (NRIs) J C Sharma have traveled extensively in North America, Africa and Australia to meet NRIs. Incidentally, Agnihotri will receive the same remuneration as our official ambassador to the US, Lalit Man Singh and a comparable residence in Washington.

A different tune

Lata Mangeshkar nominated to the Rajya Sabha over a year ago, has still not availed of most of her perks. She has not taken a government bungalow in Delhi, nor has she made use of other entitlements such as free air and rail tickets, telephone and internet connections, a personal computer, medical assistance etc. She was even hesitant to use fellow MP Rajiv Shukla’s services in applying for a diplomatic passport which she is entitled to as an MP. Mangeshkar explains that she was shy of taking advantage of the privileges of being an MP since she feels guilty that she does not devote much time to being a parliamentarian.

Silent communication

The decision to award Bharati Mobile the Punjab cellular licence on payment of back dues of over Rs 400 crore generated considerable heat at last Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting. The Cabinet was informed that the Attorney General Soli Sorabjee had revised his original legal opinion on the dispute between DoT and the company because he had been fed false information earlier. Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie demanded an inquiry to find out who had provided wrong facts to the AG. The remark was obviously aimed at the secretary and the former minister of the communication ministry, but Ram Vilas Paswan, remained silent.

No joint plan

Former chief minister Jayalalithaa was keen to include Jairam Ramesh and Mani Shankar Aiyer in Tami Nadu’s planning commission. Aiyar declined because he felt that it was illegal for an MP to hold an office of profit under a state government, in the light of the Supreme Court ruling in the Shibu Soren case. No such restriction, however, applies to Ramesh who is deputy chairman of the Karnataka planning commission. It seems in fact that Congress president Sonia Gandhi, although still officially an ally of the AIADMK, does not want her party men to accept jobs offered by Jayalalithaa.

Living in the past

As the Culture Minister Maneka Gandhi was automatically appointed as chairperson of the Jaya Prakash Narayan Centenary Committee, a position held earlier by her predecessor Ananth Kumar. Veteran journalist and JP disciple Prabhash Joshi took exception to Gandhi heading the committee since her husband Sanjay was one of the chief architects of Indira Gandhi’s Emergency rule. However, other committee members including close associates of JP such as Chandra Shekhar, Mohan Dharia and Shyamanand Mishra did not support him.

Shekhar noted that JP was the last person to practice such pettiness and Home Minister L K Advani recalled that though he and JP had disagreed on many issues he had never shown rancor. The question on chairpersonship was referred to a committee headed by Vice President Krishan Kant since Gandhi herself expressed reluctance to chair the meet.

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