Vol. 6 | Issue 8 | November 2012
COVER STORY
politics kleptocracy
Politico-business nexus
The collusion
Politicians
seem to have lost the cause with Independence. In the vacuum have
emerged a new ‘mission money’ class who have no other priority but to
make money faster and faster, ridiculing everybody and the system.
by Neeraj Mahajan
At
83, Lata Mangeshkar, the queen of playback, is worth millions. So is
Shahrukh Khan, with eight Filmfare Best Actor and many other awards, who
had to act in 100s of blockbusters to account for a net worth over Rs
2,500 crore...................READ MORE
Prime
Proclaiming
The
Over
Ever 
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Kingfisher
The
Whatever
else one may say about Rahul Gandhi, he has a keen eye and is visibly
observant. Recently on a visit to Punjab, he came face to face with
newly elected Congress MLA Chiranjeet Bajwa. The impeccably groomed and
well turned out Bajwa introduced herself as a party MLA and told Rahul
that her husband is the Lok Sabha MP Pratap Bajwa. She told Rahul that
he must do something about the five-star culture that had crept into the
party as this was doing a great deal of damage. The reference was
obviously to Captain Amrinder Singh, the larger than life Raja of
Patiala who likes to live well and certainly makes no attempt to hide
it. During the last Congress government in Punjab, the Bajwas were close
, very close to Amrinder, as he used to be seen regularly dining at
their residence in the company of select “friends”. But when Pratap
Bajwa became too ambitious, the Raja cut him out and now he is opposing
him tooth and nail and is doing everything to ensure he is not appointed
the Punjab PCC President. So when Rahul heard her comment about
five-star culture, he looked her up and down and then focused on her
watch. With a smile he asked,” Isn’t that a Petit Phillipe which you are
wearing? It’s nice. How much would it cost roughly.” The lady turned
red since that particular brand doesn’t come cheap and costs nothing
less than Rs 10 lakh. Rahul added, “We have already dropped the
five-star culture and have now moved to the seven-star culture.” Touche
Rahul! This encounter clearly indicates that Rahul is not only updated
on his MLAs and MPs but that he does not like the kind of bitching that
Congress politicians are known for. A gentle put-down is obviously
called for.
MPs
and Ministers and other probables waited for a telephone call from the
Cabinet Secretary asking them to come for the swearing-in on Sunday
morning at Rashtrapati Bhawan. The first call went to the pretty and
soft spoken Mausam Noor, the MP from Malda in West Bengal. But much to
the shock and horror of the person speaking to her, she declined the
invitation to be a minister. She said she was pregnant and not in a
position to become a minister at this stage. She recommended that her
mamu A H Khan Chaudhary, the brother of Barkat Ghani Khan Chaudhary
should instead be made a minister in her place. This is probably the
first example of an MP sacrificing a berth in the council of ministers
for motherhood. It’s a lesson to many of our senior and greedy ministers
who want more, more and still more.
The
Uttar Pradesh government is working in full swing now. As per reports
emanating from Lucknow, the trusted lieutenants of Mulayam Singh Yadav
and all his brothers and nephews are very busy. They have variously been
deputed to Lucknow, Kanpur, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, etc. for
the smooth ‘management’ of resources. Wave Industries Group’s
controversial chairman Ponty Chaddha had some difficulties in the
beginning but his liquor business has again hit a high as he has
reportedly negotiated with Mulayam Singh Yadav and ‘settled’ the heat
amicably. One thing has changed as far as Noida and Greater Noida is
concerned, a new team of ‘personal management’ has been constituted by
Mulayam Singh Yadav. Ponty Chaddha is out from the team. He has been
instructed to look after his business only. It is reported that Ashok
Chaturvedi, the controversial Chairman of Flex Industries has again
swung into action. His renewed friendship with Mulayam has led to Noida
and Greater Noida being abuzz with the importance of Chaturvedi. He has
unofficially been allotted the job earlier done by Mayawati’s brother
Anand. So, if you are looking for a contact, google for Flex Industries
and call the number, the suave Chaturvedi is ready to help.
The
South and North Blocks are agog with activity nowadays. Not only a new
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director has to be selected – the
present incumbent A P Singh is retiring on November 30 – but, more
importantly, it has to be figured out how to rehabilitate A P Singh for
his “commendable Services”. Reportedly, the Government wanted to make
him a member of the National Human Rights Commission. But, Opposition
leader Sushma Swaraj rejected his name. The Government is now
considering appointing him as a member of the UPSC. With decision on
Singh hanging in balance, the October 18 select committee meeting to
select his successor ended inconclusively. The officers who are in the
fray for the prestigious post are Indo-Tibetan Border Police
Director-General Ranjit Sinha (1974 IPS), National Investigative Agency
Director-General S C Sinha (1975 IPS), Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj
Kumar Sinha (1976 IPS) and Special Director CBI V K Gupta (1977 IPS).
However, sources disclosed that during the select committee meeting A P
Singh (1977 IPS) backed DGP Orissa Police Prakash Mishra (1977 IPS),
also retiring in November, instead of V K Gupta who is retiring on
December 31. Meanwhile, it is learnt that South Block is no mood to
appoint an officer considered close to a political party or a business
house.
A
hitherto unknown note by former Cabinet Secretary on 2G issue has
queered the pitch for UPA II, already besieged in various scam
allegations. The note remained allegedly ‘hidden’ because it appears
that as far as 2G spectrum allocation was concern there was free for all
under A Raja. It seems, Raja neither cared for the Prime Minister of
India nor the Cabinet Secretary. Cabinet Secretary is one office whose
direction or advice is seldom ignored in the Government. But, Raja
showed no such consideration even though former Cabinet Secretary K M
Chandrasekhar was known as an extremely serious and experienced
bureaucrat who did not intervene in each and every issue. This despite
the fact that he was overloaded with work on account of being the head
of numerous committees............
Country’s
two premier intelligence agencies, Research and Analysis Wing
(R&AW) and Intelligence Bureau of India (IB), are also looking for
the new chiefs with the present IB Chief Nehchal Sandhu and R&AW
chief Sanjiv Tripathi retiring on December 31. The top contenders to
fill Sandhu’s post from within the IB are Special Directors V Rajgopal
(1976 UT) and Yashowardhan Azad (1976 MP), an old IB hand and son of the
former Bihar chief minister Bhagwat Jha Azad. Asif Ibrahim (1977 IPS),
who served as a PA to late Madhavrao Scindia when he was Railway
Minister, is also among the contenders. IB sources say that if he is
selected for the job, he will supersede five officers. Another contender
is Ram Niwas Gupta (1976 IPS), a Special Director in the IB. Azad seems
to have an advantage over other contenders as he retires in 2014, after
the others in the race like Rajgopal and Gupta...................
The
new gas connection policy of Ministry of Petroleum has come as a boon
for gas agency owners to mint money. The cylinders are on sale but one
has to pay a hefty premium in Delhi if household quota exceeds the
limits. As per estimates, there are 200 gas agencies in Delhi and all
are politically well connected as in old days the gas agencies were only
allotted to political beneficiaries. One needs guts to take them to
task. The State Government’s Department of Food and Civil Supplies
(DFCS) looks after the supply. The Department was conscious about the
situation but due to political connections of agency owners, they
remained quiet observers so far. But when newspapers reported the
black-marketeering of the cylinders, DFCS took cognizance and raided the
agencies and godowns and made arrests under the Essential Service
Maintenance Act (ESMA)............
Scam
was the buzzword in October. The people were aghast, as one skeleton
followed another. How and who is exposing the corruption is just a
matter of name but the critical point is that the ruling and opposition
parties, who are at the helm of affairs to ameliorate the condition of
the poorest, are allegedly just busy making money. The dynamics of
Indian polity is no longer about serving the nation but instead the
mantra is “you scratch my back and I scratch yours.”