Poll promises are normally broken after an election. I.K. Gujral, however, is not a man who believes in postponing the inevitable. His much-touted "financial package" for Punjab -- seen as the price he paid Parkash Singh Badal's Akali Dal for the Jalandhar seat -- is already in tatters. Its salient feature was the waiver of a special term loan (STL) of Rs 8,500 crore, incurred since 1986. So far so good. A notification to this effect was supposed to have been issued. However, the Government seems unwilling to share it with the press. The reason: actually only Rs 2,100 crore has been written off -- three instalments of Rs 700 crore each. C. Ramachandran, expenditure secretary, admits the STL has only been "waived till A.D. 2000". What of the remaining Rs 6,400 crore? That's Gujral's parting gift to the next government.

Postscript: None of this has lessened the Akali ardour for Gujral, though. As G.S. Tohra puts it, "Had Gujral stayed prime minister for some more time, he would have turned Punjab into California." Watch out, California dreamin' could soon become a waking nightmare.

--Harish Gupta and Ramesh Vinayak

Squatters' Rights

If you can't capture Chennai, at least grab the nearest wall. The modus operandi is simple enough: whitewash any wall you fancy -- public property, private property, disputed property, anything -- and inscribe, "Reserved for DMK" (or AIADMK or TMC). Return when you want to and decorate (deface?) the wall with the slogan or poster of your choice. Of course, in film-crazy Chennai there is also the teaser-trailer innovation to the wall manoeuvre. Publicists draw the silhouette of the prospective candidate's face, filling in the details only when the name is official. Meanwhile, onlookers are supposed to get cheap thrills guessing whose face it could be.

-- S.S. Mahadevan

Guess Who's Come to Dinner

The sumptuous practice of iftaar diplomacy arrived in Mumbai on January 11 when Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh played host to, among others, Dilip Kumar and Johnnie Walker. Mulayam used all the charm he could muster to try and persuade Kumar to join politics or at least campaign in Uttar Pradesh. The actor played coy: "Last time, jiske liye campaigning kiya tha, uski to dukaan hi uth gayi", there is need for "good and clean" people in public life and so on. Two days later, the ruling alliance hosted an iftaar at the Islam Gymkhana, with the BJP's Gopinath Munde and Kirit Sommaiya and the Shiv Sena's Shabir Shaikh in attendance.

However, the coup de grace seemed reserved for Atal Bihari Vajpayee's "national iftaar" in Delhi the following weekend. Prominent Mumbai Muslims were invited, even being promised, at least in one case, air tickets. "But I can't fly down for an iftaar," this privileged if nonplussed invitee exclaimed. Well, when it comes to electoral mealtickets, the BJP doesn't believe in tokenism -- it goes the whole hog.

--V. Shankar Aiyar and Smruti Koppikar

Democracy at Work

Talk of a vigilant public. After Atal Bihari Vajpayee's recent rally in Beed, a citizens' group in Aurangabad was on the warpath. It sought action against two government employees who had broken service rules and participated in the patently political function. Shashikant Joshi of the General Administration Department had played the tabla while Kuldip Dhumale, engineer, minor irrigation projects, was the master of ceremonies. Big deal, you'd say. Well, the guilty two certainly wouldn't agree; they're in big trouble. Following the complaint, the local police arrested them under Section 134 of the Representation of People Act. Good show Aurangabad.

-- Smruti Koppikar

Vote for my Wife

When he joined politics, Shatrughan Sinha was termed the BJP's answer to Laloo Yadav. Now, post-Rabri Devi, he's matched Laloo in proxy politics as well -- and asked the BJP to nominate his wife, Poonam, for the Patna seat. Ignoring anguished local leaders and complex caste equations, the party could well give in. After all, Shatru has jeopardised his television career -- by cancelling a shooting schedule for The Shotgun Show in London -- only to campaign for the polls. Meanwhile, in keeping with Hindi cinema's tradition of coincidences, Jaya Bachchan is being spoken of as a Congress-SP candidate in Uttar Pradesh. Mrs Shatru, incidentally, is a former Miss India.

-- Bharat Desai

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