Vis-a-Vis

J. JAYALALITHAA AIADMK chief versus M. KARUNANIDHI DMK chief

"Power has gone to his head. He is behaving like Hitler. Even at 84 he has not mellowed down. I’ll wipe out the DMK."

"The AIADMK office got a demolition notice by chance and she is making a hue and cry about it."

EPILOGUE: In Tamil Nadu, every political action is followed by an over-reaction.


VOICES

“I don’t want to interfere with the media’s judgement. But my appeal is that the incidents (Rajasthan violence) should not be shown repeatedly.”

Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, Union minister for information and broadcasting

“If the Congress decides to put up its candidates for the posts of President and vice-president, it will be for the party chief to decide on the nominees.”

Janardhan Dwivedi, AICC general secretary

“We do need to be bolder than we are if we want to achieve 10 per cent growth. 10 per cent is not easy to achieve; only half a dozen countries have ever done it.”

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairperson of Planning Commission

“One day, things will be such that Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly will be in contention for the coach’s job but would never get it.”

Kapil Dev, former cricketer

“There are so many people with so little thought. Indian cinema has hit rock bottom. It’s a reflection of our spiritual and moral decay. It has lost its connect with Indian realities.”

Mahesh Bhatt, filmmaker

THE BUZZ OF THE WEEK

With the Congress nominee for the Presidential elections, Pranab Mukherjee, disinclined to move out of politics and many party wannabes finding no support, the chances of a consensus being worked out are brightening by the day.

APPOINTED: Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee as the head of the South Asia Parliamentary Commission which will have four members from each SAARC country.

AWARDED: To Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in recognition of his commitment to the eradication of poverty and hunger, by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

APPOINTED: S.K. Shingal, a 1970-batch IRS officer, as the chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs.

PICTURE SPEAK

PEN DRIVE: (Clockwise) Nath, Arjun, Digvijay and Dhawan

As humble as the title is meant to sound, this particular grain of sand has put in many momentous moments in the hourglass of time including Singh’s role in the 1986 Rajiv Gandhi-Longowal accord; his stint as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and his fractious rapport with Congress presidents Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri. The law graduate is known to choose his words carefully and even corrects the notings on his ministerial files if not drafted right. One hopes his penchant for writing letters will add the requisite colour to his memoirs.

Commerce Minister Kamal Nath too is debuting on the literary stage. In between signing global trade agreements, Nath is penning a book on India’s economic growth—though given his high-flying lifestyle and smart one-liners, his autobiography might make a more riveting read.

Another Congressman-turned-economist, Digvijay Singh, has the title of his book ready and now just has to work on the rest of it. Called The People Are the Solution, the former chief minister will explain how human beings are the ultimate assets and not mere votebanks.

R.K. Dhawan and Mohsina Kidwai are penning their memoirs about the Indira Gandhi era. A loyal Gandhi family aide since 1962, Dhawan says that his book will “reveal all”. So it’s not just BJP leaders who are dominating the literary world. One wonders if Jaswant Singh’s mole will resurface in any of these tales.

-By Priya Sahgal

PICTURE SPEAK

THE TARGET: Amarinder Singh faces Badal’s wrath

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s tactic, aimed at putting the sectarian row behind and his sworn political foes in the dock, has backfired with the Punjab and Haryana Court rejecting the Vigilance Bureau’s move to arrest them for custodial interrogation. While Bureau officials grilled Amarinder in Patiala on May 29—ostensibly to prepare fresh grounds for his arrest as he is on bail till July 31—the state investigating agency has named the Captain’s son Raninder Singh, son-in-law Raminder Singh and former media advisor B.I.S. Chahal as the accused in the Ludhiana City Centre case. The Bureau claims to have recovered a pen drive from Delhi businessman Chetan Gupta, allegedly containing details of illegal pay-offs to Amarinder and his family.

In an embarrassment to the government, the high court has granted anticipatory bail to Raninder, Raminder, Chahal and former minister Jagjit Singh, and has rapped the Bureau, calling its investigations smacking of political vendetta. “It’s a serious setback to the Vigilance probe,” admits advocate-general H.S. Mattewal.

The Badal Government has challenged the High Court’s reprieve to the prime accused in the Supreme Court. “It’s important to interrogate all the accused to unearth the scam,” says Mattewal. The cat-and-mouse game between Badal and Amarinder may have just begun.

-By Ramesh Vinayak

PICTURE SPEAK

AT NO. 10: The Taj Mahal

-By Nandini Vaish

Sub Shopping

DELHI Both the Indian and Pakistani navies are shopping for submarines to replace their ageing fleets. That was why German defence minister Franz Joseph Jung was here to meet his Indian counterpart A.K. Antony last week. The Indian Navy is looking at buying six submarines costing over Euro 3 billion from either Russia, Italy or France. Jung will later meet the Pakistani defence establishment for their three submarine requirement.

-By Sandeep Unnithan

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