Learning the ropes

The babalogs still have a lot to learn from the behnjis and dadas in politics. Rahul Gandhi’s heroic attempts to beat Mayavati at her own game and in her own turf may have done Mama Sonia proud, but on the ground, as his partymen are already finding out, he has granted behenji fresh ammunition to target the party. Soon after Rahul’s visit to some Dalit houses in the Bundelkhand region, Mayavati reached there in order to gauge how much damage had been done. Not much. In fact, taking up Rahul’s cue on the region’s backwardness, Mayavati immediately hollered for a Rs 80,000 crore package and lobbed allegations of criminal neglect at the Congress. CMs of other states now know precisely what to do when Rahul comes calling. Soon after Rahul had dropped in at Panna, Chattarpur and Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, the MP CM, was found seeking a Rs 25,000 crore package from the prime minister. The plea was the same — longstanding neglect from the Centre. Shivraj had even better luck than Mayavati. During Rahul’s visit to the Tapriyan village, he had apparently promised help to a tribal girl who was getting married. No help arrived on or before marriage day. Chauhan quickly stepped in to hand over Rs 20,000 in cash to the girl, and followed it up with a little patronizing remark. Apologizing on behalf of Rahul, he said, “He is new to politics.” Point noted?

Star attraction

The star value of a politician is not dictated by how well his book sells. Had it been so, the prime-minister-in-waiting, LK Advani, would have launched the formal electoral campaign in election-bound Karnataka as scheduled. The honour is going to Narendra Modi. He, together with Sushma Swaraj — who has previous experience in the state courtesy her fight with Sonia in Bellary — is supposed to kick off the campaign. Advani will apparently campaign later. The decision of anointing Modi as the opener is said to have been dictated by ‘logistics’, but others insist that soothsayers influenced the choice. We say it is Modi’s charisma. Take your pick.

Home affairs

In an era of literary conquests, the indomitable Shivraj Patil does not want to be left behind. The Union home minister is apparently writing poetry and his volume in Marathi will soon be out. My Country, My Life must have inspired him no end. To acquaint his fraternity with his talent, his office has already started sending volumes of four other books — all authored by him — to senior leaders. It could also be his way of saying that he is no one-time wonder.

Keep in touch

N Chandrababu Naidu has to live up to his image of being an IT guru. But there are other reasons as well for the daily teleconference he holds with his deputy in parliament, Yerran Naidu. Yerran briefs his leader every day on what transpires in both the Houses of Parliament. Chandrababu is currently in Andhra Pradesh, touring the state in his Chaitanya rath to shore up TDP’s chances in the next assembly polls. Thousands of miles away, the former CM still has his eyes and ears glued to the corridors of power, and it is his tech-love that makes it possible.

Mum is the word

TR Baalu, Union shipping, road transport and highways minister, created quite a storm in the Rajya Sabha when he confessed that he had used his ministerial clout to get gas cheap for his family firm from the petroleum minister. The shock was not so much for what he had done, but that he had admitted to it. That most people in positions of power use their influence to get things done is commonly accepted. Why, years ago, MS Gill, former CEC and now sports minister, is said to have got a pucca road to his sprawling farmhouse in Shivpuri constructed by making a mere phone call to the then chief minister, Digvijay Singh. A senior MP recalled this story to make the point that political biggies can use influence to advance their interests as much as they want, only they couldn’t go on the record.

Songs of the road

Commerce and industry are not the only way Nirupam Sen and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee connect with each other. The highest common factor between the two is their love of Rabindrasangeet, a fact not known to too many people. But while travelling around the world, as he did recently to Germany to shop for investments, Sen lets his concern for Bengal’s future take a backseat. He cajoles people around him to sing and join in, or to come up with the words of a song when they cannot be remembered. A quintessential Bangali, that is. Does he love his fish?

FOOTNOTE

Pointless excise

Is the department of excise an ‘un-Islamic’ portfolio? Leading seminaries in the country seem to think so. Several of them, including the Darul-Uloom Deoband, have urged Muslim politicians across the country to avoid taking charge of the excise portfolio as it makes handling of alcohol unavoidable. The directive, however, has put the Bihar CM, Nitish Kumar, in a bit of a spot. Jamshed Ashraf, his newly appointed excise minister, had gone to the Imarat-e-Sharia in Patna to seek the seminary’s blessings, but the head of the seminary pleaded his inability to bless the minister as he dealt with alcohol, which is prohibited in Islam. Since then, Ashraf has been hounding Nitish to relieve him of the “wet” department and assign him a “dry” one. Nitish has reminded Ashraf that his department does not deal in alcohol, but enforces its prohibition. But Ashraf is unwilling to buy the argument. So is the clergy.