Fly on the Wall
Assam is a typical example of how functioning of the government has been paralyzed. When Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi went
public blasting the Centre for delay in deploying the army in troubled areas,
the Centre did not censure him. But tried to pacify him. Why ? The armed forces
deployment was sought on July 23. The local commander wanted written orders
from Chief of the Army Staff who looked towards the Defence Ministry. Everybody
wanted orders in writing, nothing oral about it. A K Antony, as usual, took his
own sweet time as files kept juggling. Finally, when the forces were deployed,
the damage was already done. The reason for delay was that various high courts
and Supreme Court had passed certain orders relating to deployment of armed
forces in the communal riots and they needed to be studied. Hence, the delay.
Can anyone be held responsible ?
Anand Sharma is also up set ?
Why blame former Union Minister
Virbhadra Singh for being angry with the party high command for being left out
from the Congress screening committee of Himachal Pradesh. Even blue-eyed boy
of the party Commerce, Industries and Textiles Minister Anand Sharma was up
set. So miffed was Anand Sharma that he quietly left for London. A word was also spread that he had been
deputed on an official mission to London. But the fact is that he is equally
peeved for being ignored. As chairman of the manifesto committee his role will
be over immediately after it is released.
The past experience has been that once the screening committee clears
the list of candidates, it rarely
undergoes a major change. The party high command’s problem is that if Raja and
Anand are included in the screening committee, how could other senior leaders
be left out.
Bihar, Bengal to felicitate President
Pranab ?
The President, Pranab Mukherjee is extremely
busy finalizing his tour program as invitations are pouring in. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who had backed Mukherjee’s candidature, wants him to visit Bihar first so that he is
able to pay his respect to the first President Rajendra Prasad Memorial also. Mukherjee
is also keen that a massive public function is held in his honour- as he is the
first Bengali to be elected as President – by the Mamata Banerjee government. Mukherjee himself is keen to play host to a
grand Iftaar party at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. This will be his public function
at the Rashtrapati Bhawan to be attended by numerous diplomats from the Middle
East, South Asia and Africa. Another
invitation that has piqued Mukherjee’s interests is an invitation from London
to attend the closing ceremony of the Olympics games and a gala dinner at the
Buckingham Palace. No decision, however, has been taken so far.
First Yadav on Face Book, Twitter
Who says Yadavs are backwards and
not familiar with technology ? NDA convener and JD (U) President Sharad Yadav is
now a regular on Face Book and Twitter. He is amongst the first of the three
Yadav leaders – Mulyam Singh and Lalu
Yadav to open a FB account. And quite regular too.
CBI on case closing spree
Before winding up after two years
stint as CBI director and lodging FIRs and chargesheets against high and
mighty, A P Singh is now taking a U-turn. If the mandarins in CGO Complex are to be
believed, the latest beneficiary of CBI’s
correct or soft approach will be Suresh Kalmadi. The CBI may close one case
against him with regard to the Queen’ Baton. This was the first case registered
against Kalmadi and company for favouring a London-based company. Lately, the CBI decided to close several
cases including Medical Council of India chief Ketan Desai and Dental Council
Chief A K Kohli. Now the CBI is explaining that these persons were booked at
the instance of the Heath Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. The case against LIC chief has also been
thrown into the dustbin. But the purpose of the government has been served as
he was denied another 5-year term despite his excellent performance. The hi-fi
case against Mayawati has been thrown out by Supreme Court itself after nine
years.
New axis in the BJP emerging
A new axis in the BJP is clearly emerging.
While one group is led by BJP chief Nitin Gadkari, Gujrat Chief Minister Narendra
Modi, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and Chief
Spokesman Ravi Shanker Prasad, the other
group comprises of L K Advani, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma
Swaraj, Jaswant Singh and Ananth Kumar.
Other senior leaders like Murli Manmohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha, Rajnath Singh
keep moving as the issues come by. The
RSS has clearly signaled to Advani that it is with Narendra Modi irrespective
some reservations about him. Jaitley is trying hard to keep the BJP’s Chief
Ministers and local satraps with him and the trouble-shooter of the BJP.
