Vis-a-Vis

SMRITI IRANI TV actor and BJP National Executive member versus M. VENKAIAH NAIDU former BJP president

"I solemnly appeal to Narendra Modi to resign for the sake of the party. It is high time Gujarat and Vajpayee got their pride and glory back."

"She is new to the party and has no proper understanding of its traditions. Also, the issue of Gujarat's governance is no longer relevant."

EPILOGUE: Indiscipline seems to be a never-ending TV soap with the BJP of late.

VOICES

"Nobody uses F-16 planes and other weapons meant for big wars to fight terrorists."

Pranab Mukherjee, defence minister, on the US argument that arms
supply to Pakistan was to tackle terrorism

"People say the BJP is getting Congressised as the standard of decline in values set by that party was considered to be the lowest benchmark."

L.K. Advani, BJP president

"A play, a song, a poem or a film would say much more than what I can do by talking. Terrorism is a subject that needs special attention from creative people."

Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, West Bengal chief minister

"Economic diplomacy would be the diplomacy for the 21st century."

Natwar Singh, external affairs minister

"If Shah Rukh Khan is baadshah (king) then I'm ikka (ace)."

Aamir Khan, actor

THE BUZZ OF THE WEEK

A hardliner in the Pakistan set-up is scuttling back-channel talks between National Security Adviser J.N. Dixit and his counterpart by leaking details of upcoming meetings, like the next one at Amritsar.

PICTURE SPEAK

Chautala

CHANDIGARH In Om Prakash Chautala's Haryana, recruitments to government posts seem to raise a stink of scandal. A recent case is the selection of 1,270 schoolteachers. Of the 42,000 candidates who appeared in the written test for social studies teacher posts, 3,800 were declared successful on November 8. Shockingly, the Haryana State Staff Selection Commission had "selected" 32 candidates who had not even cleared the written examination. Ostensibly under instructions from the Chautala Government which has been in a tearing hurry to fill up the vacancies before its term ends in February, the commission came out with the list on December 5, in less than a month.

While the commission has denied bunglings, attributing the missing roll numbers to "printing error", the Opposition Congress has been quick to seize this as a pre-poll issue. Especially when in Chautala's six-year tenure, many appointments like those of state civil service officers, college lecturers and police sub-inspectors have been challenged in the courts.

-By Ramesh Vinayak

DELHI It's not only the government that has changed hands but even the government-owned Mahadev Road auditorium that served as a private movie theatre to both L.K. Advani and A.B. Vajpayee. Recently, Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi had a private screening of the Shah Rukh Khan blockbuster Veer-Zaara. Shah Rukh himself was present, along with producer Yash Chopra, Congress MP Rajiv Shukla and Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit. Incidentally, this is the second movie that the Gandhi siblings have seen since the UPA Government came to power. The other one was Shah Rukh starrer Main Hoon Na. Move over Amitabh Bachchan. In the new Congress, Shah Rukh is clearly the new politically correct Bollywood hearthrob.

-By Priya Sahgal

DIED: Syed Mir Qasim, 83, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, former Union minister and founder of the Congress party in the state.

EQUALLED: Sunil Gavaskar's world record of 34 Test centuries, by Sachin Tendulkar, with a career-best 248 not out against Bangladesh. While Gavaskar's 34th century came in his 206th inning, Tendulkar's came in his 192nd inning.

AWARDED: Wildlife filmmaker Shekar Dattatri, the Rolex Award for Enterprise, for his work on wildlife conservation.

WON: Indian golfer Jyoti Randhawa, the $550,000 Volvo Masters of Asia title, in Kuala Lumpur.

DENIED: Chandraswami, self-styled godman, permission to go abroad, by a Delhi court after the CBI claimed it had proof of his role in former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.

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