Strange goings-on

Three secretaries have left the commission during Basu’s three years in office and now he is at loggerheads with the present incumbent, Jivtesh Singh Maini, a Punjab cadre IAS officer. Last Sunday Basu asked Delhi Police for special protection from Maini, claiming he feared for his life. He demanded that Maini be barred from attending the board meeting that day. The police descended on the CGO complex where the meeting was to be held and started checking everyone’s identity. In protest, employees of the board stayed away and the meeting had to be cancelled.

Basu complains that Maini’s behaviour as an officer is unacceptable. But his ire perhaps stems from the fact that Maini has written a letter to the cabinet secretary complaining that Basu loses his temper, has slapped a driver, and thrown files at officers. The cabinet secretary has ruled that since Basu is only a part-time chairperson he cannot prevent his secretary from attending the board meeting.

While her mother and brother were in China talking with the country’s top leadership, Priyanka Gandhi was spotted in a small hole-in-the-wall speciality kids store in Delhi’s Greater Kailash market. “What an unlikely place to find you!” remarked a journalist who was shopping there. Priyanka, who many believe is the politically most astute member of the family, retorted that in fact such shops were the places she was most likely to be found. She is kept busy, running errands for her children Rehan and Maria. Priyanka and a friend were ordering bed sheets with their children’s names printed on them. She was without any security guards.

Sniffing trouble

Former foreign secretary K.S. Bajpai invited Vice President Hamid Ansari, a retired IFS officer, to his house for a private dinner. In keeping with security regulations, the Delhi Police sent an advance team to Bajpai’s residence along with sniffer dogs. Bajpai was taken aback at his house being turned upside down and telephoned the vice president to protest. Ansari was so embarrassed that he called the concerned officers and gave them a dressing down. The vice president has said that in future he does not require security if he is attending a private function. He drove to his dinner appointment that night without even an escort car.

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