Onion mandate

Delhi gets trapped in multiculturalism as political parties confront each other fiercely

One of the advantages of being the national capital is to evoke the sentiment that you belong to everybody. Delhi, the migrant's paradise, is discovering that this can be a mixed blessing.

For years, its politics was dominated by Punjabi speaking refugees and money-speaking Baniyas. Next surged the Hindi-speaking Jats, whose finest hour was Sahib Singh Verma's

Courting trouble

Learning no lessons from the past, Congress begins seat-sharing talks with BSP

Promising Handshake: Arjun Singh's talks with BSP leader Kanshi Ram brighten chances of yet another Congress-BSP alliance

Less than 15 per cent of the country's electorate will vote during the November 25 elections to four state assemblies, but for both the ruling BJP at the Centre and the main Opposition, it has the implications of a referendum.

Despite public assertions to the contrary, BJP leaders admit that the party's fortunes at the Centre would depend to a large extent on its ability to retain Delhi and Rajasthan

Babu turns supercop

Cabinet approves law to put CBI, ED under CVC, insulate agencies against interference

"I'll be judge, I'll be jury,' said cunning old Fury." Few fit the role of Fury in Alice In Wonderland better than the Indian bureaucrats. Last week, they mustered all the cunning at their command and secured the Cabinet's approval for an ordinance on the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).

It's back to square one

CBI's credibility to be put to test in several cases involving ruling BJP allies

UNENVIABLE TASK: For Trinath Mishra (left) who took over from D.R. Karthikeyan, the challenge lies in acting on his own rather than being prodded by the Government or the courts

Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has spent most of his political life campaigning against corruption - and against the CBI's reputation of being an arm of the Congress party. Since
April 1987, when the Bofors gun deal issue surfaced, the list of unsolved, politically sensitive cases has been growing, giving enough ammunition to the BJP to attack its opponents.