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NEWSNOTES
CAPLOOKS
Dying Tone
 Delhi:
As
long as Ram Vilas Paswan remained in the Janata Dal(U), the telephone
at the party office at Maulana Azad Road worked even if bills were not
paid for months. But when the communications minister and his party chief
Sharad Yadav started sparring, the phone began to sputter. First, the
line was rendered one-way-to receive calls but not to make them. Last
week, as Paswan split the party to form the Janshakti, the JD(U) office
got a notice threatening disconnection if the bills were not paid. If
Yadav, who is also civil aviation minister, opts for retribution Paswan's
air travel plans could be disrupted in a big way.
Hedging
his Bets
Bangalore:
Anyone who spends an occasional evening with Ramakrishna Hegde will tell
you that he engages his friends in conversation by mostly talking about
retiring from politics and writing his memoirs. Last week, the thought
must have once again entered his mind. One of Hegde's closest aides, Ramesh
Jigajinagi of Bangalore, who stuck by him through a decade of splits and
mergers, disregarded his master's entreaties and opted to join Ram Vilas
Paswan's Janshakti. Is it finally time to pack up?
Talk
Show
Delhi:
If
it is Track Two diplomacy, can the venue be any other than the India International
Centre (IIC)? Can the subject be anything but south Asia? And can the
chairman be anyone but I.K. Gujral? The meeting's brief was this: as the
official SAARC process has come to a halt, we, the eminent citizens of
the seven south Asian countries, must do something to redeem the situation.
Ultimately, it was left to former foreign secretary J.N. Dixit to suggest
that eminent shoptalking at the IIC was no answer to actual diplomacy.
Rollback
 Delhi:
Union Sports Minister Uma Bha-rati walked into MDMK leader Vaiko's daughter's
wedding carrying a packet stuffed with money-the customary wedding gift.
She put the packet back in her handbag on noticing that the young couple
were not accepting gifts either in cash or in kind.
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The
split in the Janata Dal (U) shows Communications Minister RAM VILAS
PASWAN does not think beyond Bihar.
 Q.
Why a new party now?
A.
Ever since Sharad Yadav became the JD(U) president, the party has
been directionless. In fact, the party's future has been bleak since
V.P. Singh left. In Bihar, nobody talks about corruption now.
Q.
So will your new party, Janshakti, play the role of the opposition
in Bihar?
A.
There are two political poles in Bihar: Janshakti and Laloo Prasad
Yadav. There is no scope for a third force. In Bihar, whoever opposes
Laloo will survive.
Q.
What future do you see for your new party?
A.
We will emerge as a powerful national party.
Q.
Some say it is just another example of your personalised politics.
A.
No. People have been pressing for a long time for a party to vent
their suppressed feelings. The JD(U) party executives never met.
Everyone was frustrated.
Q.
Are you in touch with other JD(U) MPs?
A.
I have not spoken to any MP about joining us but I know that quite
a few of them as well as some members of the Bihar Assembly are
very angry and upset with the JD(U) leadership.
-Farzand
Ahmed
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Enron
symbolises everything that's wrong with the way reforms were handled by
M/s Rao & Manmohan, says INDIA TODAY Associate Editor