Modi’s raga on Nitish’s radio
Nitish Kumar Government took a good number of measures for the upliftment of Mahadalits, including distribution of food, potable water as also radios. While eatable and drinkable items did go in favour of Nitish Kumar, the radios might have turned out to be a big negative. As a senior BJP leader from Bihar put it, “All those with radios given by Nitish Government must have been impacted by Modi advertisement litzkrieg — Ab ki bar Modi sarkar…” The result is for all to see.
1.76 lakh ‘zero-loss’ slap
It’s a strange coincidence that the proponent of zero loss theory in the 1.76 lakh 2G spectrum scam, outgoing Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal got exactly 1.76 lakh votes in the lok Sabha election from Chandni Chowk constituency. Three years ago, Sibal invited a huge controversy by ridiculing the CAG for pegging the lost in the scam to Rs 1.76 lakh crore and floating the “zero loss” theory.
Fingers crossed
Senior NIA officials are keeping their fingers crossed as a new dispensation is all set to take over the reins of the Government at the Centre. Officials, who supervised the probe into the so-called Hindu terror cases without much success, apprehended that they could be taken to task by the BJP Government. The NIA is struggling to prove there is a network of Hindu terror in the country. The agency registered a number of cases and extracted confessional statements from the accused persons, but failed to unravel any larger conspiracy.
Farewell
Defence Minister AK Antony bid farewell to defence correspondents on Saturday last week and thanked them for fair reportage. The longest serving Defence Minister, Antony said he met journalists on the first day after assuming office eight years back and wanted to demit office after meeting them. Though a holiday, most reporters made it a point to have a cup of tea with the outgoing Minister. Earlier in the day, the entire Defence Ministry staff turned up for his farewell, and Antony shook hands with all present be it top bureaucrats or class four employees.
Good news for lions
Narendra Modi, as the new of Prime Minister of India, will make some elated and leave others sulking. But those who were not in favour of translocation of lions from Gir in Gujarat to Kuno in Madhya Pradesh are bound to be ecstatic. They tried numerous ways — including advancing scientific explanations and legal arguments to dissuade the UPA Government from taking that step. But now they are obviously relieved. When the lion of Gujarat is himself at the helm of country’s affairs do lions of Gir need to worryIJ
Ailing A-G’s news dose
During the closing months of the UPA-II Government, Attorney General GE Vahanvati kept a low profile. Having burnt his fingers in many controversies, Vahanvati is bed-ridden in a private ward of a Mumbai hospital away from all action in the Capital. Grapevine has it that the A-G still gets regular briefings from his friends and juniors about important legal proceedings in the Supreme Court. last week, when news about the CJI forming a new bench for Sahara matters was conveyed to Vahanvati, the ailing A-G reportedly surprised the informant by revealing that a judge in the new bench too may withdraw from the case.