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Sept 27, 1999
 Cover Story
Elections 99
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Party Pulse
Delhi: Congress President Sonia
Gandhi's recent revelation in a TV interview that her favourite dish is no pasta or
risotto but the simple arhar dal (lentil) and roti has created a flutter at the AICC
headquarters. The dal-roti is a regular item in the aicc kitchen and its staff is
perplexed because of the new name -- "CP lunch" -- by which the dal-roti meal is
now being called by the AICC "sahibs". CP stands for Congress president. An AICC
wit has remarked that the party chief "has her finger on the pulse", though it
is of the leguminous variety. Trading
Loyalties
Delhi: Who says politics in India is all
local and nothing global? Subrata Mukherjee, INTUC general secretary and West Bengal
Congress leader, wouldn't have joined Mamata Banerjee's party if the Congress' central
trade union organisation had nominated him for a second term to the governing body
election of the ILO in Geneva, held in June this year. Membership of the ILO governing
body has an international aura, besides the attraction of about 10 weeks' stay in Geneva
and travel opportunities all year round. However, despite Mukherjee's pleas, the
nomination this year went to Karnataka's N.M. Adanthaiya, reportedly at the prodding of 10
Janpath. Mukherjee, having joined the Trinamool, is now playing the Pied Piper to his
erstwhile colleagues.
Payback Time
Chandigarh: It was a political debt that
Punjab Governor Lt-General (retd) B.K.N. Chibber couldn't resist paying back. Two weeks
before his five-year term was to end on September 18, Chibber sprang a surprise by
exonerating four former Congress ministers of charges of malfeasance and abuse of power
made against them by the Lokpal. By overruling the Lokpal's damning findings, Chibber who
owed his gubernatorial appointment to the previous Congress regime put paid to the ruling
Akali-BJP combine's plans to make political capital out of the report. But the Parkash
Singh Badal Government deftly denied the advantage to the Congress by tabling the
governor's clean chit only after the polls were over.
Skipping Protocol
Ahmedabad: Even the disciplined,
cadre-based BJP has its share of hard nuts who are difficult to crack. It was the first
joint public meeting of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani in Gujarat. Advani called up
Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel and requested him to receive Vajpayee at the airport and
also attend the rally. Patel refused saying he couldn't skip his rallies across the state.
Advani again requested him saying his absence would send the wrong signals. Patel though
was unrelenting, leaving Advani disappointed. But those who know the farmer's son weren't
surprised. One thing Patel is known for is his lack of media savvy. |
