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Nov 22, 1999
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Diwali Dish
Delhi: President K.R.Narayanan's state visit to Austria last week unexpectedly
threw up a question of ... well ... culinary diplomacy. Since the Indian head of state was
in Vienna on Diwali day, his hosts were in a dilemma over the food appropriate for the
occasion. While Christmas has its turkey or Id its camel meat, Diwali has no scriptural
dish. Besides, rarely does an Indian President go abroad on Diwali, so no protocol has
been set. The issue was finally resolved when the hosts were reassured that the President
had no particular food preference for the day. Narayanan's meal thus began with the
predictable rolls of Vienna bread. Maze
of Information
Delhi: Information these days, it is said, is
just a mouse click away. But not in the National Literacy Mission (NLM), as a journalist
trying to find out the country's literacy rate realised last week. A call to the office of
the NLM chief met with the response: please contact the two directors in the mission.
While there was no response at one number, the other passed the buck to yet another
director, who, as it happened, was on tour, "but the deputy director will be able to
help". Here, a helpful assistant said, "DD sahib is having lunch." Well,
could he tell us the literacy rate. "Umm ... It's a difficult query. It will take two
or three days to find out." The journalist is still recovering.
Kitchen Cabinet
Patna: The arrest of Bihar Road Construction
Minister Illiyas Hussain by the CBI last week led to a piquant situation. Not that he is
the first minister to receive such attention. While others resigned or were dropped before
being escorted to jail, Hussain continues to be a minister. Now his supporters have raised
a peculiar demand -- that his wife be given his portfolio. As one of them asked, "If
Laloo Yadav can anoint his wife, why not Hussain?" Laloo predictably is squirming in
embarrassment. Given the number of ministers facing corruption charges, any such move may
lead to Rabri Devi presiding over India's first true "kitchen" cabinet.
Bad Times
Thiruvananthapuram: Congressman P.J. Kurien's
defeat in the Lok Sabha polls was to an extent neutralised by his unofficial appointment
as aide to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. But now, even that may be taken away. Last week,
the Kerala High Court rejected Kurien's petition challenging a lower court order that
there was prima facie evidence against him in a 1996 rape case. The girl who was then 16
has charged that despite her naming Kurien as one of her tormentors, the police did not
list him as an accused along with 43 others. As they say, when things go wrong, they
really go bad.
CONFESSIONAL
JEEVARAJ ALVA,
Lok Shakti leader Ramakrishna Hegde's trusted lieutenant, thrashed out his party's future
during JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav's recent peace mission to Bangalore.
What's happening to the Lok Shakti-JD(U)-BJP
combination?
We made a mess of ourselves. We should have just stuck with the BJP instead of all
this last minute confusion.
Has the Lok Shakti lost its shakti?
At one time we even had the potential to be in power, but now the shakti has been
drained off. We have to revive it to survive.
You are Hegde's trusted lieutenant but now there's
a distance between the two of you.
True, I even sold him as the next PM in my campaigns. But now he has no time for
the workers because of his commitments. He has been my hero for so many years but
sometimes I feel disappointed.
Is Hegde finished? He says George Fernandes ignored
him.
Why should Fernandes be blamed when Vajpayee himself should have picked
him up if he wanted to. When Manekas and Jethmalanis can be in, why not my leader? He
should accept defeat with grace.
You have always been chief minister material. Do
you see that happening?
Let's see. Every morning from 7 a.m. you can see crowds in front of my house, and
that's the scene for nearly a quarter century. If people bless me, that (chief
ministership) will be a reality.
What do you think of Chief Minister S.M. Krishna
and the talk of hi-tech?
Krishna should not even have a model. Let Krishna be Krishna, why should he try to
copy Naidu? Sometimes it looks like a big show.
-Stephen
David |
