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NEWSNOTES
CAPLOOKS
Friendly
Foes
 Delhi:
Laloo Prasad Yadav may have no dearth of political foes, but personally
the man is on the best of terms with almost everybody. Recently at a party
in the capital he bumped into Law Minister Arun Jaitley. Laloo was president
of the Patna University Students Union in 1975. His counterpart at Delhi
University was Jaitley. So when the two old friends-now belonging to parties
that do not see eye to eye-met, they naturally talked about old times.
When Laloo reminded Jaitley that they had not dined together in a long
time, the ever courteous minister replied, "Drop by anytime."
Jaitley was quite surprised when Laloo actually dropped in for dinner.
Secular
Show
Chennai:
Is the desperation showing? When AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalitha visited
her long-time foe journalist-politician Cho Ramaswamy, who is close to
the BJP, three times in the space of a few days, the city was abuzz with
rumours that she wanted to buy peace with the party. The lady's many secular
friends-the TMC, the Leftists and the Congress-were enraged. Ironically,
they cooled off only after the BJP state General Secretary L. Ganesan
categorically stated that his party did not want to repeat a mistake.
Mayor
Bottleneck
Lucknow:
The country's first and only eunuch mayor, Asha Rani a.k.a Asha Ram Yadav,
is becoming a bit of a problem for the district administration in Gorakhpur.
Convinced that its civic problems need her personal attention, she has
abandoned her official car and moves around the place in a cycle rickshaw.
But this is no ordinary rick: it has got a flagstaff and beacon lights
and is accompanied by police outriders. The problem is its pace: it moves
so slowly, the cavalcade ends up blocking traffic wherever she goes.
Redundant
Fear
 Delhi:
Farooq Abdullah isn't pleased with the Centre's Kashmir initiatives. He
fears talks with the Hurriyat would render him irrelevant. But after frequenting
Delhi's Iftar circuit, he just feels a little reassured.
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Rashtriya
Janata Dal supremo LALOO PRASAD YADAV is unfazed despite
his aides joining hands with his detractors.
Q.
Is the Rabri Devi Government in danger due to the feuds in the RJD?
A.
Rubbish. There are no differences within the party. If someone sees
it, I would recommend eye surgery for him.
Q.
There are demands that Rabri be replaced with your friend Ranjan
Yadav.
A.
I know my MLAs well. There is no threat at all.
Q.
How is your relationship with Ranjan?
A.
Very good. The media is trying to create differences where none
exists.
Q.
Samata, JD and Jan Shakti have offered to support Ranjan in his
bid for chief ministership.
A.
This should be addressed to Ranjan.
Q.
Deve Gowda wants you and Sharad Yadav to come together to fight
communalism.
A.
I think all secular leaders should join hands. Politics is secondary.
What is most important is the country's unity.
Q.
Are you pressing the Centre to compensate Bihar after the bifurcation?
A.
The
prime minister is busy making promises. He says wheat and rice will
be given at cheap rates when two lakh tonnes rotted due to the Centre's
policies.
-Sanjay
K. Jha
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Among
the major spin-offs of developing the LCA is the mountain of confidence
that India's aeronautical engineers have gained. But there's still plenty
to do, writes INDIA TODAY Deputy Editor Raj Chengappa in
