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On Different Tracks
Delhi: Till not long ago, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Laloo Prasad Yadav were thick
friends. They were inseparable, trying to make their Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha into a
major political force. But soon they began to drift apart on the issue of supporting the
Congress. Last week, the division between the Yadavs became clear. Laloo and his family
were stuck at Lucknow airport for four hours after the aircraft flying them to Delhi
developed a snag. But Mulayam, who was in Lucknow, did not bother to visit them despite
being informed about it. The next day Laloo signed a deal with Sonia Gandhi in Delhi while
Mulayam went with Sharad Pawar's NCP. The two leaders avoided each other on their return
trip too. When Mulayam learnt that Laloo was at the VIP lounge awaiting his flight to
Patna, he checked in as an ordinary passenger to Lucknow. Favoured Few
Thiruvananthapuram:
Experience does not matter, but the right connections do. When it comes to giving their
sons and relatives a leg up in their careers, Kerala's Marxists don't seem shy of brushing
aside merit. Last week, it was the turn of V.A. Arun Kumar, 32, to become the youngest
managing director of the Kerala State Cooperative Coir Marketing Federation.Kumar has no
experience of the coir industry or marketing or cooperatives. His only qualification:
eldest son of V.S. Achuthanandan, CPI(M) politburo member. But then that's nothing new.
Earlier, the Marxists had given party patriarch E.M.S. Namboodiripad's son and two
sons-in-law prominent government posts.
Vanishing Dignitary
Calcutta: A comic sideshow of the bus diplomacy to Dhaka was provided by West Bengal
Chief Minister Jyoti Basu's fervid attempts to stay away from Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee and the official Indian delegation. Vajpayee would use one door to enter the
banquet hall while Basu would use the other. Vajpayee would veer to the left, Basu would
duck to the right. Coming after the West Bengal Government's boycott of a function on
Rabindranath Tagore that Vajpayee presided, the communist leader may have been only
keeping away from the BJP's "fascist ideology". The hosts were bewildered
though.
Money Trap
Hyderabad: For all his bravado, Andhra
Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu could be in trouble. If news from the Raj
Bhavan is any indication, officials are speedily processing state Congress President Y.S.
Rajasekhar Reddy's memorandum of corruption charges against the chief minister to enable
Governor C. Rangarajan to decide whether there is a case for prosecution. Over the past
four months, Reddy has been alleging there were huge pay-offs in certain state government
deals with private parties. Investigators say what may prove costly for Naidu is the
phenomenal growth of his family-owned Heritage Foods Limited, Naidu, they say, has not
been able to cover up his tracks on this venture.
Flying High
Bangalore:
For a while now Karnataka's Congress leaders have been venting their fury at Chief
Minister J.H. Patel for using the state Government helicopter for all and sundry purposes.
When there are good motorable roads, why does he have to take the aerial route to the
districts, has been their refrain. Last fortnight, however, Patel's fiercest critic,
Congress Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Mallikharjuna Kharge, had to seal
his lips. The reason: Patel used the helicopter to attend the wedding of the daughter of
former state Congress chief Dharam Singh. When queried, Kharge mumbled, "Don't ask me
anything." Does that mean a clean chit for Patel this once? |
