Singled Out
Bhubaneswar: Not all publicity is good
publicity. Or so believes Orissa Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang who is virtually seeing
red over a BJP-sponsored poll advertisement that points to him for pulling down the A.B.
Vajpayee government. The chief minister feels that the ad -- which exhorted voters to
realise the importance of every vote and to undo the damage done by Gamang's controversial
"single vote" -- was undignified. "I have been unfairly targeted,"
says Gamang, and has declared that he would sue the BJP for defamation. Spy vs Spy
Delhi: Home
Minister L.K. Advani never tires of talking about Pakistani spy networks everywhere, but
the recent identification of an ISI mole right in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has
North Block buzzing with security alarms. Last month the Intelligence Bureau (IB)
identified the mole -- a typist under Joint Secretary for Kashmir Sandeep Bagchi -- who
was found selling sensitive documents to suspected ISI agents. The man has been dismissed
and is under investigation. Since then, half a dozen steno-typists have been shifted out
of the MHA, many files moved into lockers with numbered keys, classified information in
computers firewalled and surveillance on the MHA staff intensified.
Sour Prospects
Chandigarh: Having excelled in handing out
doles, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is now learning to be frugal. Faced with
a severe financial crisis, his government has decided to do away with the Diwali gifts and
greeting cards it sends out every festival season. It's a novel move that could save just
a few thousand rupees but Badal's belated austerity drive has side-stepped hard decisions
on other wasteful expenditure running into crores of rupees. Post results, many would
believe the "dim Diwali" has more to do with the Akali-BJP combine's losses in
the polls which has perhaps left them with nothing much to celebrate.
Snail Mail
Bhopal: Taking a leaf out of his Andhra
Pradesh counterpart, N. Chandrababu Naidu, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh
also tried to acquire a computer-savvy image by opening a website:
www/mpchiefminister.com. But five months after the site was launched with much fanfare, it
appears that Digvijay has not bothered to even open the mails. Only 30 people have written
to him so far -- probably because e-mails sent to him do not elicit a reply. As the chief
executive of one of the most backward and feudal states in the country, Digvijay is
perhaps out to prove that the Internet can be slower than ordinary mail. Another
image-building exercise gathering cobwebs.
CONFESSIONAL
Sharad Yadav, JD(U) president, sat on a dharna until
the court referred his petition to the EC. In 1998 too, when he lost to Laloo Yadav in
Madhepura, he resorted to fast unto death.
What prompted you to end your fast?
My complaint was that there was large-scale rigging but the EC did not listen. I
had no option but to stage a protest. Once the high court directed the EC to hear our
grievances, I ended my fast.
Are you satisfied with the court order?
This is a landmark judgement. For the first time in parliamentary history the court
has intervened in the poll process.
Are you saying that the EC failed to ensure free
and fair polls in Madhepura?
The EC's orders were brazenly flouted by the local administration. Despite promise
of deployment of Central forces at each polling station, 90 per cent of the booths
remained uncovered.
Your party colleagues have alleged that the rigging
was done at the behest of Laloo Prasad Yadav.
I don't want to accuse anybody. But the administration's role during the polling
was an outrage. And everybody knows who runs the administration in Bihar.
But you too have been accused of intimidating
voters and violence, including murder of an RJD worker.
The allegation is too fanciful to be answered.
In future too will you protest the "loot of
votes" like this?
I am trying to tell people that the dignity of a vote is no less than the dignity
of a daughter. Looting of votes is like outraging the modesty of women.
-Sanjay
Kumar Jha |
