gfiles Magazine November Issue 2011

Bric-a-brac

politics & ballistics

 

 

Sheila redux

sandeep keeps mommy dearest’s bounce alive

CHIEF Minister of Delhi Sheila Dixit is once again in regal command. She has survived the gamut of allegations against her regarding the Commonwealth Games 2010 scandal. The 73-year-old matriarch is active, agile, and ebullient. Her opponents, and she has enough of them, seem to have run out of ammunition.

 

She has systematically demolished and de-fanged all her opponents during her 13-year reign. Part of her supremacy stems from her proximity to 10, Janpath where she carries more clout than any State Congress leader from Delhi. Revolts against her leadership are planned with clockwork regularity but they fizzle out even before they emerge from the political closets.

 

For most rank and file Congressmen, Sheila is Delhi and Delhi is Sheila. She hogs the stage at every important function in the capital. Diwali, Christmas, New Year’s, Holi, book launches, Sheila is in demand.

 

Opposition leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra does not even come a close second. But Sheila is not without her own problems. She, too, like all Indians, wants her own dynasty. Her major preoccupation is installing son Sandeep Dixit as the next Chief Minister. Sandeep, as Sanjay once did with mother Indira Gandhi, is now taking a keener advice in offering advice to Mommy Dearest. He, too, now sees Delhi as his own battlefield. This is an additional problem for Sheila’s opponents because Sandeep is brilliantly networked.

 

 

 

 

Octogenarian odyssey

advani’s old wine in a new bottle

IS there a lesson or two to be learned on the art of organizing a nation-wide campaign from 84-year-old BJP warhorse Lal Krishna Advani? He is now riding his own chariot of saffron fire – a new rath in an old avatar – in his peculiar move to fight against corruption.

 

One problem is that his party leadership and the RSS are no longer in any mood to heed his sermonizing. Nor are they interested in what he talks about to others. And not too many ordinary folk can quite fathom the purpose of his new yatra. Nobody questions his zeal or spirit or enthusiasm. But the wags do raise questions about the exhibitionism of his new exercise: long convoys of cars, jeeps and trucks, and dozens of people who fly to pre-arranged destinations to meet him.

 

His rath brigade stays in A-class hotels. About 60 people accompany him to manage the show. They include daughter Pratibha, the main organizer along with the infamous Anant Kumar, who was allegedly the corrupt Minister who influenced civil aviation policies at the behest of a corporate lady lobbyist associated with the 3G scam.

 

Journalists have begun asking probing questions about where all the money is coming from in order to finance the lavish yatra.

 

 

 

 

Maya memsaab and Rahul baba

hazare can be the uttar pradesh spoiler

GOOD news for UP Chief Minister Mayawati and bad news for the Congress. The UP Assembly elections in 2012 will determine which party will be instrumental in electing the next President and Vice-President of India.

 

Both posts are important, keeping in mind the Parliamentary elections slated for 2014. After all, the President plays a supremely important role in choosing a government in case of no clear majority. And the Anna Hazare syndrome is going to be the pain in the neck for the Congress party.

 

According to several top American analysts who specialize in predicting the vicissitudes of Indian politics, Mayawati will be number one in the UP poll and candidates supported by Team Anna will be number two. The Samajwadi Party will be number three, BJP number four and Congress... the last.

 

How? If sources are to be believed, Hazare’s associates have been working for over a year to select appropriate candidates in UP. They are conducting surveys in each constituency. They are making a list, talking and interviewing the probable candidates. This job is being done in strict secrecy.

 

Sources say they have got some superbly praiseworthy candidates in most of the constituencies.

 

 

 

 

Business of sports

corporate house taking over sports bodies

AN all-powerful business house appears to be systematically taking over sports bodies. Cricket, obviously, is foremost on the list. Indications are that it will ultimately slip from the hands of Sharad Pawar, the high-profile Union Minister for Agriculture. Already, State Cricket Associations are being taken over by those chosen by the corporate house. It has been instrumental in putting in place many members of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The icing on the cake was the recent appointment of Rajeev Shukla as Chief Commissioner of the Indian Premier League.

 

 

The business house is also said to have backed CP Joshi, Union Minister for Transport and President of the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA), in his successful battle against Sanjay Dixit, a 1986-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre and Secretary of the RCA. Earlier, their respective factions had put separate locks on the office of the RCA. The Joshi faction got the locks removed three weeks before the Irani Trophy was to begin on October 1.g