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True Colours Delhi: Ram
Jethmalani has often been likened to a ram for his tendency to take on anyone who dared
come in the way of what he thought was right. The urban affairs minister's recent public
spat with mandarins in his ministry even ended in the controversial and abrupt transfer of
a senior DDA official. Such controversies, however, did not came in the way of the huge
birthday bash his children and friends threw for him on his 75th birthday last Monday.
Among the 1,000-odd invitees was Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Ram was chirpy
and cheery as he mingled with the guests. At the end of the day, however, he was neither
playing politician nor legal luminary. He was truly the ladies man. So much so when one of
them told him he had different colours of lipstick on his cheeks, he retorted quickly:
"You are the only one who has kissed me on the cheek, sweetheart."
Icy Repartee
Delhi: Time was
when Laloo Prasad Yadav and Sharad Yadav were thick as thieves and Mulayam Singh Yadav was
the sworn common enemy. But things have changed. Last week Laloo and Mulayam, now friends,
were waiting at the VIP lounge to catch a flight to Mumbai when who should walk in but
Patna-bound Sharad, now their common enemy. In the embarrassed silence the leaders did not
even acknowledge each other. Finally, when Mumbai-bound passengers were asked to board the
aircraft, Laloo and Mulayam got up. Sharad sought to break the ice: "Are you leaving
me all alone here?" Laloo's reply was typically below the belt: "That's what
happens to anyone who dares to ditch us."
Down the Drain
Chandigarh:
Keeping Bansi Lal, the volatile Haryana chief minister, happy is a daunting task for most
state government officials. On the eve of the chief minister's recent visit to his home
district of Bhivani, officials sensed anger among the local farmers over non-availability
of irrigation water. The clever irrigation officials opened the sluice valves a day before
his arrival. Only, the gushing waters led to the breach of the Hisar Major canal, flooding
nearby Narnaund and acres of agricultural land. Needless to say, the watery mess created
by the embarrassed officials was enough to raise Bansi Lal's hackles and invite an
inquiry.
Changing Roles
Patna: Who said
Rabri Devi merely parrots the script that Laloo Prasad Yadav prepares for her? Last week,
departing from a prepared speech, she launched a scathing attack on her detractors,
particularly the BJP. "Why do you worry that the BJP Government at the Centre will
pull me down?" Rabri asked, while addressing a public meeting. "They say my
husband always walks with me and executes my duties. All Indian husbands walks with their
wives. What is so novel about that? He will always walk with me. I have run a household
and Bihar. I will continue to run both in future," she declared. Poor Laloo, who is
raring to be exonerated in the various cases to take over as chief minister once again,
surely could not have scripted that.
Speak No Evil
Bhopal: Last
week Ajit Jogi, the ebullient Congress MP from Raigarh, had declared that if the BJP-led
Government in Delhi accepted the demand for a new railway zone at Bilaspur, the party
would get a walkover in all the 19 seats in the district in the coming assembly elections.
It was meant to taunt the BJP, which however lost no time in announcing the laying of the
new zone's foundation stone on September 20 by the prime minister. State Congress leaders
are livid, while Jogi would not have been squirming in embarrassment if he had observed
the cardinal rule that party spokesmen follow: watch what you say. |
