Dec 13, 1999

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Rubber Faith
Lucknow: New Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta has total faith in vastu. Soon after he took over, a vastu shastri told him that if he did not allow visitors to enter his drawing room wearing leather shoes or slippers he would complete his term. Promptly, Gupta's son Rajiv Lochan, who apparently calls the shots in the new dispensation, ordered 26 pairs of rubber chappals for their Kalidas Marg residence. Now visitors switch to chappals when entering the drawing room of Gupta, whose other habit is to eat only food prepared by wife Nirmala.

Flying Risk
Calcutta: After a deputy, West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu is set to get a new chopper. Tenders had already been invited for a Rs 25 crore flying machine, but the process was speeded up after the chopper that usually flew Basu crashed recently. The chief minister, of course, wasn't on board. The wrecked machine was 17 years old and didn't conform to VVIP security requirements: it had a single engine, whereas the guidelines stipulate a twin-engine. The delay in acquiring a new chopper centred on the debate over the choice of the flying machine. The file on the new chopper purchase had been lying with the chief minister's office. With the crash, it is finally moving.

OK 'Kaka'
Mumbai: Mumbai: From the pen he carries to his now exquisitely-tailored white shirts to his green Toyota Land Cruiser, Sharad Pawar always provides grist to the curiosity of Mumbai journalists. So last fortnight, they were surprised to see "Kaka" -- as the NCP chief is called by a section of the media -- drive around in a white Fiat Siena, a distinct comedown from the Land Cruiser. A week later the answer became clear when the General Administration Department put in an application for buying 27 new Fiat Sienas for the ministers whose Contessas needed replacement. As one minister close to Pawar put it: "Kaka was test-driving the car. Now that he is satisfied we will buy them." When they find the money for it, that is.

CONFESSIONAL
Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna is caught in the Almatti dam controversy. Having met A.B. Vajpayee last Sunday, he hopes to settle in Krishna water dispute amicably.

It's Krishna versus Krishna now. The Cauvery issue is quiet for the moment but you have fresh trouble with the Almatti dam controversy.
Krishna versus Krishna, that's exactly what the prime minister told me when we met him on November 28. But we are only asking for our share. We are sticking to our stand of raising the height of the dam because that was decided long ago.

How did the affidavit by the Centre, which restricts raising the height of the dam, come into the picture?
That is still a mystery. I don't know how that came.

Do you think Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is trying to armtwist the Vajpayee Government because the TDP is part of the NDA?
I don't think so. I've known Vajpayee for nearly 40 years and he is not a man who can easily be armtwisted.

You are talking about electronic governance and video-conferencing. How does it help?
I am happy that within a month we have been able to connect 12 districts for video-conferencing. Now the collectors cannot hide anything even if they want to.

Some say that you are simply aping Naidu.
I don't want to ape anybody or anything. My first brush with computers was in the '80s and I want to use the advantages of hi-tech for the benefit of the people.

Some say you are a man in a hurry?
Five years is too little a time. The initial euphoria of chief ministership is over and it's time to get down to business. But there's much to do and so little time. And that's where computers really help.

-Stephen David

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