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CAPLOOKS
DELHI
Pay-off Pantomime
Even some senior Congress leaders are unwilling
to buy Ajit Jogi’s outrageous charge against the pmo of a Rs 100-crore
pay-off in the balco case, but if the Chhattisgarh chief minister presses
on, it has something to do with the tacit backing he has of his party
chief Sonia Gandhi. Congress circles say Sonia panicked after the Supreme
Court took cognisance of the balco matter. But Jogi flew to Delhi and
met Sonia. Among the claims he is said to have made was of having the
account number in which the pay-off had been deposited. BALCO could do
for Sonia what Bofors did for V.P. Singh, ran his argument. Now which
prospective prime minister would not buy that kind of logic?
BUBANESWAR
Economy On Auto Pilot
In stark contrast to the mild-mannered Naveen Patnaik, Orissa Finance
Minister Ramakrushna Patnaik always comes across as garrulous and overbearing.
But does it entitle the finance minister to ignore what the chief minister
proposes? Barely a fortnight ago, Naveen announced the Biju Krushak Yojana
scheme for farmers. But in this year’s state budget, placed before
the Assembly last week, his finance minister has not even allotted a penny
to the grandiose scheme. That’s called autonomy.
BHOPAL
Just Suite Nothings
In Madhya Pradesh, not a week passes without Governor Bhai Mahavir and
Chief Minister Digvijay Singh getting involved in a minor skirmish. Now
it is over who should stay at the Madhya Pradesh Bhavan suite in Delhi.
After one of the two state guest houses went to Chhattisgarh, Mahavir
has been suiteless, Diggy Raja being loathe to share his. It is now proposed
that the state electricity board guest house in Delhi be spruced up for
the governor. So what if both have their houses in Delhi, everyone loves
sarkari hospitality.
PATNA
Father, Son And Holi Spirit
Holi bashes at the Laloo-Rabri household are known to be as raucous as
rjd political rallies, but this year, son-in-law Sailesh Kumar, an engineer
with Infosys, didn’t quite agree with everything that went on. When
Laloo’s son Tej Pratap sought to grapple with him, Kumar shooed him
off, saying “Hum tumhara baap se darte nahin (I am not afraid
of your father).”
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