June 29, 1998
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Delhi: Even on a lean day, Delhi trembles with subterranean rumblings of things about to happen. Nobody has been able to trace out the epicentre of such capital quakes. If at all there is any such attempt, the Central Hall of Parliament will possibly be short-listed. This vantage meeting ground of fixers and assorted arbiters of our destiny will have an exciting new entrant: Sonia Gandhi. Doesn't matter that it is actually a complimentary arrangement. Since she is not a member of Parliament, a special Central Hall entry pass has been issued in her name as she is the chairperson of the CPP, courtesy G.M.C. Balayogi, the Lok Sabha Speaker. Accompanying her into the august hall are two of her aides, V. George and Deepak Pathak, no longer happy in the anonymity of the wings. Lucknow: Even the gods need to be guarded and provided with some financial solace. The custodian of the disputed site at Ayodhya, Commissioner Prem Narain, has posted an additional superintendent of police to keep a round-the-clock vigil on the idols of Ram Lala kept under the make-shift canopy. Financial security too is taken care of with a Personal Deposit Account in the name of Ram Lala in the State Bank of India. Donations by visitors to the site at Ayodhya go into the account which now has over Rs 6 lakh as fixed deposit operated only by the commissioner. Mumbai: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar chose to abdicate his responsibilities in the House when the tempestuous budget session was on. Reason? A major tectonic shift on the political landscape in home state Maharashtra. About half of the 44 Independent MLAs -- mostly rebel Congressmen -- withdrew their support to the Shiv Sena-bjp Government. The numbers game posed no immediate threat to the Government but it was apparently a good enough reason for Pawar to camp in Mumbai. True to style, Pawar refused to acknowledge his role in wooing the Independents; in fact, he warned state Congress leaders that it wasn't yet time to up their ante against the Government. Sage advice, but why is he so disinterested in Parliament? Or is it the Great Maratha Sulk after being sidelined in Delhi? Chandigarh: After Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's recent Rs 4-crore bonanza of Sumo vehicles to the 87 MLAs in the state, it is the turn of the three dozen-odd ministers to demand cellular phones. When their wish list came up at a recent cabinet meeting, the generous Badal lost no time in asking his officials to draw up the proposal and submit it to the finance babus. No finance department is going to be happy buying nearly 40 cell phones but the ministers are desperately trying to push the proposal through. The reason being touted is that cell phones are a necessary official input to Badal's efforts to tone up the administration. The real reason could be the tempting offer of complimentary SIM cards to the VIPs by the cellular companies. Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu loves to leave behind a trail of foundation stones and plaques. During an eight-hour whirlwind tour of his Kuppam constituency last week, Naidu inaugurated 17 "important" buildings, including an agricultural godown and a veterinary hospital. District officials too have become men in a hurry trying to carve Naidu's name on as many foundation stones as possible. But, what happens if Naidu is unable to make it for the inauguration of a pedal-boating facility with five boats in a Hyderabad lake? A minister is forced to do the pedal pushing, but for all his exertions the plaque will still bear the chief minister's name. Bangalore: Karnataka's two prominent caste groups, Lingayats and Vokkaligas, have always battled for dominance in the state politics. So when Chief Minister J.H. Patel, a Lingayat, expanded his 40-member cabinet, four of the six ministers were from his caste. One expected former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, a Vokkaliga, to bring down the roof. But surprisingly, Gowda, on hearing about Patel's move, promptly went underground. Patel explained Deve Gowda's absence at the swearing-in ceremony, stating that he had left for Ahmedabad. But Gowda was very much in Bangalore, holding fort with nearly 30 legislators led by Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The "humble" farmer, smarting under Patel's move, could not be pacified even when the chief minister sent his emissaries, Rural Development Minister M.P. Prakash and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M.C. Nanaiah, the next day. Gowda, despite his avowed disinterest in state politics, has been grooming son H.D. Kumaraswamy to ascend the chief minister's gaddi. But when asked about the latest developments in the state, he shot back: "I'm least bothered about state politics and am worried about the nation. I'm interested in Vajpayee stopping the temple construction at Ayodhya." One wonders whether the former prime minister is getting humbler or grumpier. Mumbai: Its awesome power was amply demonstrated during the 1971 Bangladesh war when its air fleet bombarded ports in Pakistan. But 27 years later, the INS Vikrant, once the pride of the Indian Navy, is dying a slow and ignoble death. With the Maharashtra Government unable to decide on a spot to convert it into a museum, time is running out for the aircraft carrier which is rusting in its berth at the Mumbai Port Trust. The navy had proposed to convert the Vikrant into a Rs 75 crore maritime museum which would generate Rs 15 lakh a month, an amount sufficient to maintain it. But its choice of a suitable spot near Radio Club, off the Mumbai coast, ran into trouble with the port trust refusing permission on grounds that the local environment would be adversely affected. Now the navy has given a July 31 deadline to the state Government, failing which the ship would be auctioned off as scrap. With large rust patches on its hull, and the navy unable to provide the personnel to maintain it -- currently only 80 ensigns work on the ship as against the contingent of 1,000 officers required to run it smoothly -- Vikrant may well end up in the scrap yard. Says Parduman Goyal of Rajiv Shipbreakers, which has scrapped two decommissioned Indian warships, the old INS Delhi and INS Mysore: "For the lack of a decision, a national monument is about to be lost." Patna: Two-time chief minister Jagannath Mishra may be in the political wilderness. But the former Bihar strongman may have just found an issue to buoy his sagging political career. With the Centre deciding to grant statehood to Vananchal, there is growing consternation among the people of north and central Bihar over the prospect of losing the industrial, forest and mineral-rich southern region. Mishra believes opposing the statehood is his best bet to stage a comeback. The expelled Congress leader, whose fledgling Bihar Jan Congress fared miserably in the last Lok Sabha elections, plans to take up the Vananchal, or Jharkhand, issue in a big way. For a start, he is holding dharnas at district headquarters in north and central Bihar to highlight the "disastrous impact" of the proposed division. The south, he says, contributes nearly 70 per cent of the revenue to the state which makes up for the deficiencies of the mainly agricultural central and north. "We will be left with nothing but an ailing agricultural sector and a flood and drought prone land mass," he says. But that, precisely, is the argument of the Jharkhandis who point out that most of the revenue that it is generating is going north. Though Mishra is the first senior politician to oppose the statehood demand, it remains to be seen whether the issue ensures his political rehabilitation. Lucknow: Tourism Minister Kalraj Mishra's year-long efforts to give the tourism and film industry a boost in Uttar Pradesh seem to be finally paying off. Last week, a team of Bollywood biggies descended on the capital on a three-day visit to thrash out, among other things, the modalities for the proposed film city at Hardwar. The delegation -- comprising among others Ramanand Sagar, Subhash Ghai, Sultan Ahmed and Pahlaj Nihalani and led by Shatrughan Sinha -- met Chief Minister Kalyan Singh who promised to lower the entertainment tax which was quite steep in the state. Complementing the state's efforts, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on a visit here last week announced the setting up of an Uttar Pradesh chapter of the Film and Training Institute and a Regional Censor Board in Lucknow shortly. And though a final announcement on the Hardwar film city is yet to be made, the state Government is confident of an early take-off. The sooner the better, for as Vijay Pathak, officer on special duty in the Tourism Ministry, points out, the basic idea of developing the film city is to attract more tourists. With Mishra having sounded the clap board, it is now up to the filmwallas to get the show going. Bhopal: Inexperience is showing in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government. And this time, the faux pas has been committed by Minister of State for Steel and Mines Ramesh Bais. Recently, the Madhya Pradesh Government's Mineral Resources Department was taken aback when it received a phone call from the personal staff of the Union minister asking for the immediate despatch of files pertaining to the Devbhog diamond mines to Delhi. When Bhopal's bureaucrats called up their counterparts in Delhi to ascertain facts, they were told that Bais, a native of the state, simply wanted to see the files. The state Government not only refused to send the files, but also shot off a terse letter to the Union Steel and Mines Ministry asking under which rule or provision of the Constitution it wanted access to the files belonging to the state Government. The letter, written after seeking legal advice, has obviously caused embarrassment in Delhi because the state Government is yet to receive a reply to its missive. Hyderabad: Renegades always live in fear of two enemies -- former comrades and former foes. But the meticulous way in which Eedanna, a former People's War Group commander, was picked up from the Hyderabad railway station on June 11, hacked to death and dumped on a pavement in less than 36 hours, has left everyone wondering as to who his real enemy was. Eedanna was involved in 40-odd cases, including the murder of Pardesi Naidu, an IPS officer, in November 1993. In 1995, he surrendered along with his wife Hussain Bee. His widow, however, believes the police are the prime suspects after Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu ordered the dismissal of three constables who allegedly raped her on April 8. An attack on their house on May 13 only deepened Bee's suspicions. Meanwhile, Naidu, worried about the increasing human rights violations, has agreed to a CBI inquiry. "Intervention of the NHRC is imperative," says People's Union of Civil Liberties President K.G. Kannabiran. Rehabilitation of former Naxalites does not include protection from vendetta, forcing some of them to arm themselves, while a few, in league with the real-estate industry, have formed an urban mafia. Not surprisingly, Eedanna's murder is being dismissed as a case of real-estate business rivalry. However, the incident has put a question mark on Naidu's reputation as an effective administrator. |
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