Uttarakhand’s Indira!
Is the roller coaster ride for Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna coming to an end soonIJ While the Congress high command last week declined to go for any change of guard in the hilly State, party’s vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s idea of empowering women as Chief Ministers, has brightened the chance for Bahuguna’s Cabinet colleague Indira Hridayesh. However, so far, the fight for the post of CM has remained between Union Minister Harish Rawat and Uttarakhand Minister Pritam Singh. But in the Congress, few can ignore Indira.
Goel’s chair
During the BJP’s national council meeting here, Delhi unit chief Vijay Goel went out of the way to take care of party leaders and workers. Goel reportedly went from one leader to another enquiring about the arrangements. After having received a lot of negative publicity in Delhi media, Goel also met every journalist personally. A senior leader quipped, “Goel works only when he knows that the sword is dangling over his headIJ”
Define VIPsIJ
Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Mukul Wasnik and various other senior leaders were standing in a queue to use the toilet during the AICC session at Talkatora stadium. There were five toilets and one each was reserved for men and women while remaining three were meant for the VIPs. An onlooker quipped, “Aren’t they VIPsIJ”
Amicus’ fair play
last week, the Supreme Court took a historical step by laying down the foundation for a permanent mechanism to probe complaints of sexual harassment against the sitting and retired judges. As the issue required the court to enter an unchartered territory, CJI P Sathasivam was quick to nominate two senior lawyers - Fali Nariman and KK Venugopal - to be a friendly adviser to the court. But when the final order came, Venugopal stood replaced by PP Rao, another senior jurist. Grapevine has it that Venugopal informed CJI later in the day to be relieved of any role in the case. Apparently, Venugopal was consulted by the former judge, who is facing a recent sexual harassment charge leveled by a law intern.
Developers’ woes
Most of the big-ticket road projects are in limbo after the order for deferment of payments of pending premium. Meanwhile, highway developers, who had been pinning their hopes on the Rangarajan committee report on premium restructuring, have now sought the intervention of the Prime Minister and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. In their letter to the PMO, the upset developers — who have themselves defaulted on many payments — are blaming infighting among the various ministries for all their woes.
PC, Sibal on mission
Grapevine has it that noted lawyers - Finance Minister P Chidambaram and law Minister Kapil Sibal - are on a mission to find a retired Judge to head the Commission on Snoopgate. According to the MHA officials, till date no judge is ready to take the politically sensitive issue, involving the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. However, officials say that some of the judges are waiting for the verdict of the IAS officer Pradeep Sharma’s case in the Supreme Court before taking a call. Meanwhile, Chidambaram has approached some retired SC judges in Chennai and Kolkata whereas Sibal has approached those from Chandigarh and Mumbai.
Unsavoury cap
Director General of the Central paramilitary forces are unhappy over the capping placed on their financial powers for miscellaneous expenditure on light refreshments/working lunch during official meetings, seminars and workshops. According to MHA’s order in May 2012, the DG is authorised for an expenditure of Rs 75,000 per annum, the special DG is entitled for spending Rs 50,000 annually and Rs 40,000 is granted to the additional DG. The expenses incurred over and above the authorisation are required to be regularised from the MHA. The forces’ top brass have sought the removal of the cap on expenditures under the head as the limit was insufficient to meet even the bare minimum expenses. The BSF DG has raised the issue with the Union Home Secretary and sought permission to maintain earlier order of November 2008 that stipulated Rs 150 per head for refreshments. However, the MHA has turned the BSF’s request following which the DGs decided against raising the issue for now.
Wooing vote-bank
With the lok Sabha polls just around the corner, the UPA Government is all set to woo the tribal vote-bank. As proposed by the Tribal Ministry, the Union Rural Development Ministry has enhanced the present limit of providing wage employment up to 150 days per Scheduled Tribe household under its flagship scheme MGNREGA. This will include all the STs who were provided land rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. It is another matter that the number of STs seeking work under the rural job scheme have declined over the years.
Missing newsmakers
Army Chief General Bikram Singh’s at-home reception on the occasion of the Army Day last week lacked the presence of many VIPs. Unlike in the past, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and BJP leader lK Advani were conspicuous by their absence. In the absence of newsmakers, the newshounds had to return empty handed.
Wise Moily
While new Environment Minister Verrappa Moily has liberally given approvals to scores of pending projects, but when it came to Vedanta projects — for bauxite mining in Odisha — Moily developed cold feet. And why not. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had committed to the local tribals to save their sacred hills of Niyamgiri where the project site is located. It was also learnt that some of the senior Congress leaders also had their issues with the Vedanta projects. The result was a strict ‘No’ from Moily to Vedanta is located. It was also learnt that some of the senior Congress leaders had their issues with the Vedanta projects.