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 Status
Scoop
Delhi: Reports of Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee's illness created quite a flutter in the capital's political
circles. The media did not remain unaffected. A correspondent of an
American daily realised how difficult it was to get something as simple as
the prime minister's health records. "In the United States, all you
have to do is ask and you will be given all the records,"
exasperated, she told a government spokesman, an expert at stonewalling.
To which the babu replied: "Madam, in your country reports of the
President's illness will put question marks about his ability to rule.
Here, it will generate a sympathy wave." A tale of two democracies.
Room with a Queue
Delhi: Occupation, as the adage goes,
being one-tenth of ownership, Vincent George has almost won back the
vantage place he had lost at Sonia Gandhi's office in Parliament. IAS
officer Pulak Chatterjee, chosen by Sonia as her parliamentary secretary,
now has to share his tiny room which leads to Sonia's well-decorated
office, with George. And the Congress MPs once again make a beeline for
George's desk while Chatterjee spends the day crossing the T's and dotting
the I's in the texts of Sonia's speeches.
Rally Restrictions
Delhi: Information and Broadcasting
Minister Arun Jaitley found himself in a tricky situation last week. On
the day before he was to address a joint public meeting with Madan Lal
Khurana, the former Delhi chief minister raised the banner of revolt
against the prime minister. Jaitley looked for a way out. And found one.
He agreed to address the rally on condition that Khurana did not refer at
all to intra-party feuds. Both kept their words. One fallout: Jaitley
persuaded Khurana to meet Vajpayee and sort out the little irritants.
Latex Move
Patna: Rabri Devi may be a mother of nine,
but her Government knows a lot about family planning. It now plans to
install condom-vending machines at several places. "Men are too shy
to shop for condoms," says Family Welfare Minister Shakil Ahmed.
Laloo must surely be in agreement.
CONFESSIONAL
MADAN LAL KHURANA raised
the banner of revolt and was stripped of the BJP vice-president's post. He
explains why he retreated.
You are a perennial rebel. Don't you
care about the consequences?
A. I raise issues that are just and in the national interest. The
consequences don't bother me.
You changed your mind after meeting Vajpayee. Wasn't it a surrender?
A. It wasn't a surrender. I wasn't pressurised, I was persuaded by
Atalji. You see, he is my weakness.
So what transpired at your meeting with the prime minister?
A. He agreed the issues I raised -- the PDS, Sankhya Vahini, exim
policy -- were important and should be discussed at party forums. He has
promised to take my views into consideration.
In your letters to the prime minister, you mentioned a
"coterie" that surrounded him.
A. I never said "coterie". I talked about some ministers and
bureaucrats misleading the prime minister. I warned against adopting
policies that may have disastrous consequences.
-Farzand Ahmad
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