PRAJA VS RAJA: Mahavir and Digvijay

Who let the rain gods out in Madhya Pradesh? With the monsoons failing to keep their date with the state, both Governor Bhai Mahavir and Chief Minister Digvijay Singh organised elaborate havans to appease the rain gods. It did rain and even though it was only a third of the desired rainfall, the race to take credit has turned ridiculous. Mahavir professes that it rained even as he was performing the havan while his bete noire Digvijay claims his visit to the Pandharpur shrine in Maharashtra made the skies open up.

In a similar drought-like condition last year, Mahavir had said that the praja (subjects) had to suffer for the misdeeds of the raja. Diggy wants to prove him wrong this time.

Living Dangerously in Delhi

It's official. The capital is the least safe of all the metros. According to crime figures just released, Delhi topped the chart with as many as 4,746 cases filed under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in 2001. Mumbai recorded half as many IPC cases, 2,351, suggesting that the Mumbai Police are either doing a great job or the underworld has gone underground. Kolkata, despite what Mamata Banerjee may claim, is relatively peaceful, with just 999 IPC cases recorded. Chennai, to no one's surprise, remains the safest metro with just 520 cases under IPC.

ROYALTY RULES: Scion of the Gwalior royal family, Jyotiraditya Scindia, seems to be his own man. The other day in the Lok Sabha, Congress President Sonia Gandhi managed to get all her party MPs into the well of the House to protest the dissolution of the Gujarat Assembly, except, of course, the late Madhavrao's son. All her efforts to get him to the well failed. According to Lok Sabha rules, any member who enters the well is liable to be automatically suspended. Scindia junior seemed to be the only Congress member who had committed the rules to memory.

BANGALORE BECKONS: Outgoing Karnataka Governor V.S. Ramadevi, a legal luminary, makes way for legal beagle Attorney-General Soli J. Sorabjee. His friends say Sorabjee was keen on a diplomatic assignment. Maybe he is considering donning the gubernatorial garb because the overseas posts available were not attractive enough.