Picture perfect

Having popped the wondrous Pratibha Patil out of its bag, the Congress no longer feels the presidential elections weighing as a millstone around its neck. Things had been very different even a day ago. At the farewell of the outgoing cabinet secretary for example, the air had been so thick with tension that it could be cut with a knife. There were none of those usual good-natured greetings or friendly remarks. Ministers did the rounds as if in a trance and those whose names cropped up in the race maintained safe distance from each other. The tea was gulped down and the goodbyes said hurriedly.

Cut to the present. The Congress seems to have transferred the ominous weight of the matter onto the necks of its rivals. The mood was strained at the swearing-in of the PM as a newly-elected member of the Rajya Sabha from Assam, but its oppressiveness was no longer felt by Congresswallahs. During the administration of oath, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was the embodiment of dignity, but the chill could not be missed. Trust the parliamentary affairs minister, Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, to rub it in by handing a flower to Shekhawat. The vice-president quickly passed it on to Manmohan Singh. The picture taken showed a happy chairman of the Rajya Sabha in the company of the prime minister and Sonia Gandhi. But then pictures never tell the truth.

Absent present

The BJP national executive meet is slated for June 26-27 and is bound to generate a lot of heat. A man crucially missed in all the action will be Arun Jaitley, who is supposed to be out of the country and will return only the day after the jamboree is over. The party is about to discuss a lot of uncomfortable questions about the electoral defeat in UP and Goa, and, most certainly, the handling of the Gujjar crisis in Rajasthan. The absence of Jaitley from these discussions is surprising, but not if one keeps in mind that the former law minister has, of late, acquired the tag of a stiff opposition within the party itself. Many wonder if Jaitley is following in the footsteps of Keshubhai Patel, the dissident leader in Gujarat who has developed ducking meetings into a fine art. Patel recently skipped a Patel convention in Gujarat which was billed as an anti-Narendra Modi show. Keshubhai remained in San Fransisco and saved himself from being blamed for the staging of the convention. Any reason why Jaitley should be doing the same?

Call of duty

The rationale behind sending senior bureaucrats nearing retirement on study tours abroad is highly suspect. But that did not stop a group of secretary-level officers from heading for Harvard for a course that is supposed to equip them to “provide leadership to the civil services”. Perhaps this will be provided by the men from outside the bureaucracy since three of them are expected to superannuate in 2009. The special secretary in the commerce ministry will retire next year, and the additional secretary in the cabinet secretariat in another three years time. Wouldn’t the services have been better served if the privilege were bestowed on mid-level officers?

All inclusive

The latest telephone directory issued by the resident commissioner of the Gujarat government in Delhi lists a number of senior serving and retired judges and a few other eminent legal luminaries who hail from the state. While all others listed could legitimately trace their origins to the state, the inclusion of the name of the chief justice of India, KG Balakrishnan, surprises. Admittedly, Balakrishnan was the chief justice of the Gujarat high court for a couple of years, but surely that does not make him a son of the soil. Unless, of course, Narendra Modi has his own ideas about such matters.

Helping hand

The Scindia sisters are spewing fire and brimstone — one in Rajasthan and the other in Madhya Pradesh. Yashodhara, back from a US visit, has complained about the MP CM, Shivraj Singh Chauhan. She accuses him of deliberately losing the Shivpuri bypoll by ignoring her advice and picking a Congress nominee as BJP candidate. Yasho has consistently represented Shivpuri till March this year, when she won a Lok Sabha seat from Gwalior. The Chauhan camp is not taking the accusations lightly. They have reminded the central party leadership that none other than Scindia herself benefited from the Shivpuri loss as the Congress won it under the leadership of her nephew, Jyotiraditya. Why else would the aunt be outside the country throughout the campaign period?

Footnote

Living it up

Over a year ago, the Chhattisgarh government had announced with great fanfare that it was hiring the services of ace cop, KPS Gill, to help it tackle the Naxalite menace. A year later, Gill’s services have been dispensed with. Part of the reason is because of the former policeman’s obvious failure to pull off the same stunt as he had done in Punjab several years ago. However, the BJP government of Raman Singh, supposedly, has another reason. It was apparently put off by Gill’s extravagant demands. Enjoying the perks and privileges of a special secretary, Gill resided in a bungalow in Raipur, where he is alleged to have frequently entertained friends. His unconventional private life became a subject of much gossip in political and bureaucratic circles. The government would have been willing to overlook all this had Gill come up trumps. But that was not the case. So Gill will lose his second home in Raipur.