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NEWSNOTES
CAPLOOKS
Ill Omens
 Delhi:
Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha's official residence at 6
Kushak Road in the heart of the capital was choc-a-bloc last week-with
priests. A couple of days before the minister set off for the US for treatment
for a kidney ailment, the priests were specially flown in from Patna to
propitiate the gods for Sinha's good health and longevity. With the number
of BJP ministers who are down with some ailment or the other going up
by the day, there are jibes aplenty about ill-health dogging the L.K.
Advani camp. All ailing ministers including Sinha, Sunderlal Patwa and
P.R. Kumaramangalam, who passed away last month, are followers of the
home minister. Those who made a timely jump to the Vajpayee camp must
be thanking their stars.
In Common
Parlance
Bangalore:
One offshoot of the Rajkumar abduction drama is Karnataka Chief Minister
S.M. Krishna's sudden love for Kannada. Krishna has suddenly decided to
speak only in his mother tongue, particularly in his interaction with
the media. The change may be due to his frequent hobnobbing with his Tamil
Nadu counterpart M. Karunanidhi ever since Veerappan kidnapped the Kannada
superstar. Though fluent in English, Karunanidhi always speaks in Tamil
in public-and comes across as more convincing.
Like
Shishya, Like Guru
Bhubaneswar: That
Naveen Patnaik is taking lessons in Oriya is a known fact, but what is
less known is that it's an English professor who's doing the teaching.
According to sources in the chief minister's residence, two factors prompted
Naveen to hire Raj Kishore Mishra as his private tutor. Mishra happens
to be the principal of the local Biju Patnaik College. That apart, even
to learn Oriya, the teacher needs to impart lessons in English to the
English-speaking chief minister. Mishra was thus the automatic choice
for the VIP.
Victory
Bid
 Delhi:
Union
Sports Minister S.S. Dhindsa was all set to leave for Sydney when the
Election Commission ordered by-polls for the Sunam assembly constituency
in Punjab. He promptly dropped all such plans. There's no telling how
many Indians will climb the victory stand at the Olympics, but Dhindsa
is determined to see son Parminder emerge the winner at Sunam.
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 Muslims
won't fall for the BJP's bait, feels MAULANA SHAFI MUNIS,
vice-chairman of the Jamaait-e-Islami Hind.
Q.
How do you view the BJP's decision to reach out to Indian Muslims?
A.
They
have admitted that it is a political compulsion. They have said
they cannot come to power on their own without Muslim support. But
they must tell us what they have done for Muslims in the past and
what they intend to do in the future. Q. Do you think Muslims will
respond to the call? A. Muslims have grievances against the BJP.
You cannot expect them to respond just because of some call.
Q.
Is it true that the Jamaait and the RSS share a closeness?
A.
We talk to political parties, but we have no communication with
the RSS.
Q.
But Jamaait and RSS leaders were together in jail during the Emergency
and vibed well.
A.
Yes,
we were together during the Emergency. They saw us and understood
what the Muslims really are.
Q.
Do you think the BJP's attitude towards Muslims has changed?
A.
We don't think so. Look at their attitude. They started thinking
of us when they realised they wouldn't get power without us.
-Farzand Ahmad
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The
Government should encash at least a part of its stake in LIC and GIC before
its too late, suggests INDIA TODAY associate Editor V. Shankar Aiyar
in 
