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NEWSNOTES
CAPLOOKS
Action
Station
 Delhi:
All those who thought the impending surgery on his knee would render Atal
Bihari Vajpayee out of action for a few weeks can now eat their words.
When Vajpayee gets admitted to Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital in October,
the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) will virtually shift from South Block
to Mumbai. Senior PMO officials are debating where Vajpayee should stay
post-surgery. There are two options: the Atomic Energy Commission headquarters,
situated close to the hospital; or the Raj Bhavan. Officials feel the
aec lacks "prime ministerial ambience" and would rather that
Vajpayee's secretariat function out of Raj Bhavan. But security officials
feel the AEC is more suitable since it is better protected. That would
be a respite for the overworked SPG.
Out-sourced Secrets
Bangalore: Since Karnataka is at the forefront
of the infotech revolution in India, you would expect the state government
officers, at least those in the sector to be techno-savvy. You couldn't
be more wrong. Each time Chief Minister S.M. Krishna has to make a presentation
before some visiting infotech honcho, his office actually hires the services
of a couple of well-known public relations executives to do the job. "It
is easier to hire someone to run it for us," says Shankaralinga Gowda,
secretary. Such candour.
Mad Scramble
Delhi: Her prolonged sulk seems to be doing
Uma Bharati no good. Since she quit her Lok Sabha seat, scores of supporters
from Bhopal, from where she won the last election, have been camping at
her Tyagaraj Marg residence in the capital. Every day, they do the rounds
of leaders' houses trying to elicit support for their didi. Last
week, as outgoing party vice-president J.P. Mathur was meeting newsmen,
her slogan-shouting supporters barged into the room. Enraged, Mathur could
not help muster, "Didi to pagal hai."
Speech
Impediment
Chandigarh: A persistent cough saw Punjab
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal often choking during his campaign speeches
during the Sunam by-election. But he has a queer diagnosis: "Every
time I mention the word Congress, I develop an allergy. But I can't avoid
the word." Yes, not when it is election time.
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Confessional
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 Though
shunned by his father M. Karunanidhi and disowned by the ruling
DMK, M.K. Alagiri vows to stay in the party.
Q.
Why did your party, the dmk, disown you?
A.
It is the work of vested interests. They are hell bent on finishing
me off.
Q.
Do you feel disowned by your father too?
A. He has not spoken to me. Party General Secretary
K. Anbazhagan has given a statement that the cadres should not keep
in touch with me. But they are in touch with me because they love
me.
Q.
Is it you they love or is it the son of Karunanidhi?
A. My father has nothing to do with my popularity.
Q.
Is your brother Stalin now the CM-in-waiting?
A. The same vested interests have a stake in promoting Stalin.
I admit that all is not well between my brother and me. I don't
know why he is being promoted. My father must have something in
mind.
Q.
What's your next move?
A. I won't join another party or launch my own. I will remain
a DMK loyalist. But the leadership should know that it cannot run
things with those who joined it after 1996. If it loses in the next
polls, half of them will ditch the DMK.
-Arun
Ram
For
Full Text Of Interview Click
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In
India, youth is marked by impetuosity and prevented from getting ahead.
Elsewhere, of course, the young rule the world, says INDIA TODAY Deputy
Editor Swapan Dasgupta in 
