Third eye wide shut

As a security measure, video cameras are placed at all entry points into Parliament House including at the outer gates for incoming and outgoing vehicles. Just how the terrorists’ Ambassador car breached the security cordon and passed through the outer gate should normally have been clearly recorded on the video film. (It was, for instance, the parliamentary video cameras which provided the vital clue in identifying Phoolan Devi’s killers). However, investigators discovered that the video camera at the entry gate from the Vijay Chowk side was not working on Thursday. Thus leading to conflicting reports as to which gate the terrorists entered from.

Exercising his option

It wasn’t the Japanese tailor’s fault that the coat specially made for Atal Behari Vajpayee didn’t fit him. The PM has gained several kilograms since he was last measured and is now a good 10-15 kgs overweight. Vajpayee is fond of his food and, unlike most others in his age bracket, makes no effort to cut down on the fat and sugar in his diet. During the periodical crises in government when most politicians are too nervous to do more than nibble at their food, the PM still tucks into his meal with childlike relish.

Nor has Vajpayee paid much heed to his doctor’s advice to devote some time to exercise. His morning walks are not regular. There is a bicycle exercise machine at Race Course Road on which the PM works out only fitfully. As for the treadmill machine in the PM’s office, it is used by the staff and not at all by Vajpayee.

Mind your language

P C Sharma was appointed CBI director despite a powerful lobby trying to keep him out, since he is perceived as someone who cannot be manipulated. The majordomo of a political party, several of whose businessmen friends are being investigated by the CBI even telephoned Sharma and threatened him. The politician even called Sharma a ‘‘do kaudi ka aadmi’’. To which Sharma replied unperturbed that he considered it a badge of honour if he had accumulated no more than two pennies during his long tenure in government.

Attention grabbers

The CPI(M)’s Harkishen Singh Surjeet is accustomed to occupying centre stage whenever anti-BJP alliances are discussed. But at Sonia’s iftar party last week he was completely overshadowed by two more flamboyant game players — Amar Singh and Shatrughan Sinha. Even the publicity savvy Singh was sidelined at the iftar by a seasoned entertainer like Shatrughan who enacted a mini version of his Pati Patni aur Mein show for the media with his familiar barbs at the BJP. ‘‘The best party is the Iftar party, particularly the one which I am at.’’

Cameramen in search of a photo-op asked Mulayam Singh to pose with Sonia Gandhi now that the ice between the two had melted. But Mulayam refused to walk up to the hostess since he felt that Sonia should come to him and not the other way around. With both sides standing on their dignity, lensmen got only a fleeting glimpse of the two leaders together when Sonia was escorting all her guests to the sumptuous buffet table. Unlike his boss, Amar Singh had no such inhibitions and rushed to grab the chair next to the Congress president at the small round table where she was seated with foreign diplomats.

Insecure exs

The SPG feels handicapped because the services of a large number of its crack cadres are being frittered away protecting ex-prime ministers, some of whom have begun to look upon them as a security blanket in medical emergencies rather than for actual physical protection. As a first step to rationalise SPG protection for former PMs, an executive order is shortly to be passed that only two SPG guards will accompany their protectees on trips outside the country. Previously, a contingent of 32 SPG men was detailed for duty abroad and they had perforce to carry all their standard equipment, including wireless sets, which at times even got them into hot water with the nation’s police.

The government hopes eventually to reduce the SPG cover for former prime ministers from a period of ten years to just one year after they demit office.

Union of the marginals

The new-found bonhomie between Ram Vilas Paswan, Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav — with all three now talking of the need to merge their separate entities into one — is because of a common grievance against the government. Paswan and Yadav are irked that they lost their plum portfolios of communication and civil aviation respectively. Nitish is furious with George Fernandes for suggesting that his railway ministry portfolio be handed over to Mamata Banerjee’s party. With the Trinamul Congress and Dr Ramdoss’s PMK waiting to rejoin the cabinet and some talk of even the Telugu Desam changing its policy of staying out of government, the ministers fear they might be marginalised further. For there are no major ministerial portfolios to distribute. Separately they may be irrelevant, but if they unite their numbers will be enough to ensure they are not ignored.

The three ministers recently made a tour od Uttar Pradesh together as part of a strategy. They hope to pressurise the BJP to allot them a good number of assembly nominations in the forthcoming elections in the state.

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