 Cordially
Uninvited
Delhi: Weddings
of politicians' offsprings often resemble melas. Congress leader Rajesh
Pilot, however, does things differently. At his daughter's wedding last
week, conspicuous absentees included Sonia Gandhi and most senior party
leaders. Reason: Pilot had not invited them, he merely sent out letters
informing them about the nuptials. It was a ploy he learnt from Sonia
herself, from the manner in which she performed Priyanka's wedding three
years ago. Among the 122 people Pilot invited were just two CWC colleagues
-- A.K. Antony and Ahmed Patel. Of course there were those like N.D.
Tiwari who mistook information for invitation and promptly showed up.
Heartbeats
for Madhuri
Lucknow:
Madhuri Dixit may have got married but she continues to steal hearts,
particularly of the not-so-young. M.F. Husain's obsession for her is
legend, but Uttar Pradesh Governor Suraj Bhan and Chief Minister Ram
Prakash Gupta, it seems, are similarly smitten. At a recent Madhuri
function in Kanpur, Bhan called on the audience to see her latest movie,
Pukar. As for Gupta, he confessed at a chance meeting with the star:
"Aap to poore desh ke dilki dhadkan hain."
Dearth
of Issues
Bhopal: Without
the oxygen of publicity, agitations tend to die down. Uma Bharati is
learning this the hard way. She resigned from the Vajpayee Cabinet to lead
what many thought was a frivolous campaign against the Digvijay Singh
Government. When that petered out, she latched on to an incident at Arjun
Singh's farmhouse where a spotted deer gored a constable to death. With
the police giving Singh a clean chit, Uma is on the lookout
for a new issue.
Edged
Out
Bangalore:
Will he come, won't he come?
As the denizens of Hyderabad and Bangalore wonder whether Bill Clinton
will stop by, a recce trip by a presidential team last week indicated that
Hyderabad has edged out India's Silicon Valley. But Karnataka has its
votaries in the visiting US team: Chelsea Clinton is keen to visit Hampi,
a World Heritage site. So while Naidu engages Clinton in cybertalk, S.M.
Krishna will take the President's daughter back in time.
CONFESSIONAL
KAMALUDDIN AHMED, Congress stalwart from Andhra Pradesh, has joined
the BJP giving rise to speculation that more Muslim leaders would follow
him.
Why this sudden decision to join the
BJP?
It was not sudden. I realised the Congress is no longer sincere about
the minorities' problems and the party itself is on the decline.
So you decided to leave a sinking
boat?
No. I wanted to resign from electoral politics. I quit the Congress on
December 23, 1999. Two days later, Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee made a
speech in which he said discrimination on the basis of religion was alien
to the country. It reflected a new face of the BJP. I was impressed and
joined the party.
But the BJP is perceived to be a
communal party?
We have had the politics of riots for 50 years. The Congress invented
the term religious minorities which created a religious majority. Now the
NDA government led by the BJP has dropped contentious issues.
What is the impact of your decision on
politics in Andhra Pradesh?
A large section of the Muslims is with the TDP. In urban areas, MIM
has some influence. But I am not looking at my decision from the vote
angle. My aim is to end politics of hatred.
-Farzand
Ahmed
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