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Jan 17, 2000

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Ethnic Touch
Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi likes to put her stamp on anything she does. She has now turned to the decor of her Parliament House office which is being done up at a considerable cost. Sonia's focus is on the ethnic, the flooring being of mat while a Kashmiri carpet adorns one wall. As for the furniture, she insisted on the Chippendale her mother-in-law used in her parliamentary office. The chairs, however, are untraceable in the storeroom of Parliament. Now an entire set of imitation English period chairs has been ordered to give an "Indira touch" to the room. The Congress' strength as an opposition party may have been decimated, but its leader's office will surely look glamorous.

Nodding Acquaintance
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh's Shivendra Singh had an unenviable portfolio: minister attached to the CM. Last week, at the end of a prolonged grievance redressal meeting, Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta noticed someone following him. Gupta, who fails to recognise half his cabinet, asked the man: "You have been tailing me since morning, what is your problem?" Nothing except my portfolio, said an aghast Singh. He got a new portfolio the next day.

Running Late
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu's new year resolution wasn't quite radical. His image being that of a habitual late-comer to all functions Naidu resolved to be punctual in 2000. On January 3, he was to flag off the inaugural run of the Janmabhoomi Express from Visakhapatnam at 6.20 a.m. But since he couldn't make it there on time, the flag-off was delayed by three hours. Of course, the train's timing remains unchanged.

Wrong Causes
Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel is eager to project a liberal image. So last week he sent a congratulatory message to Miss World Yukta Mookhey, forgetting that the RSS is dead against shows that parade the female body. Next, in a bid to curry favour with local Muslims, Patel requested the National Haj Committee to increase Gujarat's quota of pilgrims, forgetting the BJP's opposition to minority appeasement. No wonder, of late state RSS bigwigs aren't too happy with Patel.

TREMORS

Anna Hazare: Maharashtra's anti-corruption crusader refuses to back down on his demand for the right to information. Has threatened a stir after his May 31 deadline.

G.R.Khairnar: Mumbai's first demolition man had rattled bigwigs with his drive against illegal structures. Fell foul of politicians, was suspended and since lying low.

T.N.Seshan: The former CEC was the wrong man for the right causes. His fans vanished into thin air on finding he ran his trust from conman Romesh Sharma's house.

Mohan Guruswamy: After his fracas with Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, he had promised to open a can of worms. But it seems like he hasn't found the opener yet.

CONFESSIONAL
Rajasthan's Pradyuman Singh holds two portfolios -- home and industries. But his opponents say he cannot handle even one.

December saw a spurt in gruesome crimes in Rajasthan. Is the law and order machinery failing?
December has been an unfortunate exception. Otherwise the number of heinous crimes in the first 11 months had dropped slightly.

Your police seems unable to prevent the spurt in crime.
The Human Rights Commission and the courts are watching. So the police have to be careful. By arresting the accused, the police instil fear in the minds of criminals.

Your critics say you cannot handle two important portfolios.
Many ministers have far more portfolios than I have. I never leave a file pending on my table before calling it a day.

Are you satisfied with your police department?
We have far less crime compared to Delhi which has a 60,000-strong force. Rajasthan is five times Delhi's size, yet it has only 68,000 policemen.

So is it a certificate of excellence for your men?
No, but I am satisfied. Crimes take place in the US too, but the police solves them. So do we.

-Rohit Parihar

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