Parliament is back to working at full throttle mode during this Budget session after seeing a complete wasted session during the winter session. The leaders too are seemingly busy managing debates inside the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and managing the media outside the House.
Several senior leaders from the Opposition BJP and the ruling Congress, including Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Jayanti Natarajan, are seen rushing out each time they make a speech on an important issue. On occasions, several of them are seen literally queuing up outside the exit gates for their turn to speak before the waiting microphones of mediamen. The timing and the organisational skills of several of these leaders can be appreciated by the fact that most of them also represent several professional teams besides taking up politics, social activism and being spokespersons of their respective parties.
Jethmalani’s contentious nomination
It is well known that a section within the BJP was against nomination of eminent lawyer Ram Jethmalani to Rajya Sabha. There have been occasions, after Mr Jethmalani’s nomination to the Upper House, that he has taken stands that are completely opposite to his party. The recent one was when he supported civil rights activist Binayak Sen, when the BJP led government in Chhattisgarh is fighting a legal case againt Sen. When asked to comment on the issue and whether the party ever questions Mr Jehmalani for taking a stand opposite to it, a senior BJP leader replied, “Even Lord Shiva had awarded Bhasmasur (demon king in Hindu mythology) a blessing.”
Smart scribes pounce on minister near toilet
Desperate situations need desperate measures. On Tuesday journalists were barred from attending the all important meeting between telecom minister Kapil Sibal and the mobile companies over the controversial 2G spectrum issue held in one of Delhi’s five-star hotels. However, not to be discouraged, journalists camped near the toilet of the hotel and bombarded Mr Sibal, junior telecom minister Sachin Pilot and officials of the private companies with questions whenever they came out to go to the washroom.
It later came to light that one of the representatives of Vodafone had even asked Mr Sibal during the meeting to throw Trai’s recent recommendation on high charges for extra spectrum in the “litter box”.
JMM’s lost moneybag found by Mamatadi
It may not have hit the headlines in the Capital’s newspapers but for a party like the Trinamul Congress the decision of ‘Mr Moneybags’ — Punjab industrialist and Rajya Sabha MP K.D. Singh — to join the party must be a blessing. Particularly when the Trinamul is now all set to give the CPI-M a run for its money as it heads into the coming Assembly polls and could do with the ‘resources’ any political party requires in plenty to contest an election.
Mr Singh, on his part, seems to have adjusted rather well to the world of politics. He had entered Parliament’s upper house on a JMM ticket in August last year but within months had dumped Shibu Soren’s party for Mamata Banerjee’s. He was welcomed into Mamatadi’s party with open arms, thanks in great measure to his financial clout, said a Trinamul insider. Sadly for the JMM, it was unable to invoke the anti-defection law as Singh was its sole MP in the Rajya Sabha.
Walia practises what he preaches, literally!
Former Delhi finance minister and now health minister A.K. Walia is known as a tough taskmaster. After the incident of a building collapse in his Assembly constituency in which over 70 people died, Dr Walia took top officials of the Delhi Jal Board for an inspection of the area recently. His Luxmi Nagar constituency is facing the problem of water seepage in the basement of most of the buildings, which is again likely to be a problem during this year’s monsoon. The DJB officials told the minister that the problem is tough to deal with. To this Dr Walia told the CEO of the DJB that he had himself been a doctor and had treated lots of ailments thought untreatable. Hearing this, Mr Negi told the minister that the problem can be dealt with if the population is controlled. Dr Walia quipped that he has not at all contributed to population growth. Note — Dr Walia is himself a bachelor.