| Published on 13-02-2008 In National |
| Viewed 1379 times |
| Corridor Whispers - Feb 13 Part - 2 |
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Written by
Insider |
Message all gone wrong
Little seems to be going right in AICC's media department, press and publicity. After announcing closure of Jawaharlal Nehru's "National Herald," the Congress is struggling to keep "Congress Sandesh" alive. Sandesh is supposed to be the Congress' mouth piece but only time it hits headlines, is for wrong reasons.
The latest goof-up comes when an editorial ostensibly by Sonia Gandhi chided the party ruled chief ministers to stop behaving like "dictators." Now Sonia is not known to use such strong words. Last heard, party faithful Ravna Thakur is being blamed for writing the piece without getting the AICC president's approval. A Hindi out-of-work journalist has been employed as "consulting editor." The gentleman comes with a huge baggage having been dumped by Arjun Singh, Digvijay Singh, Janardhan Dwivedi and several others.
When Congress Sandesh was launched, Natwar Singh and Vasant Sathe had joined the editorial board along with Salman Khurshid and Mani Shankar Aiyar. Except for Sathe, others felt below their dignity to spend time with Sandesh. Sathe had to put in his papers when he did a Jairam Ramesh acknowledging Sonia Gandhi's linguistic and leadership shortcomings. In 2000, Sathe asked the party rank and file to squarely face some obvious truths and wrote, "Soniaji continues to be aware of her own limitations. Her natural reserved and shy nature is a great handicap with the media."
Looks like lessons not learnt is Congress Sandesh.
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Priyo's suspect patronage
Priyaranjan Dasmunshi is in a hurry to extend patronage in Ministry of Information and Broadcasting before taking over as head of West Bengal Congress. The buzz in the Congress is that once Munshi is appointed as WBPCC chief, he will have to give up I & B and retain a "seasonal" portfolio of parliamentary affairs. The "domestic" pressure on Munshi is to lobby for I&B and sacrifice parliamentary affairs.
Amid this air of uncertainty, Kapoors of Bhopal are busy thanking Priyo Da. First Dr Sunil Kapoor who runs a chain of colleges got himself appointed as a member of Prasar Bharti Board with not so distinguished credentials. Next his wife Dr Sadhna Kapoor has become member of Central Film Censor Board.
Congressmen from Delhi to Bhopal are wondering why Munshi is bent upon pleasing Kapoors. A probe is on. Watch this space for more update.
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Maya allergic to Rahul!
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayavati is suffering from hypertension. In winter, her problem is said to be aggravating a little more but if party insiders in BSP are to be believed, it has something to do with the young Gandhi. Yes each time Rahul Gandhi's name is mentioned before her, the BSP supremo flares up. First Rahul annoyed her by visiting Bundelkhand and then spending a night at a dalit house in Amethi. The tale doing rounds in Lucknow is about an ant annoying an elephant…..
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The Parvez Musharraf regime in Pakistan does not believe in forgive or forget. The Pak government's move to permit Bollywood films has pleased all except for Firoze Khan. The actor's scenes as "RDX" have been deleted from slapstick comedy "Welcome." A closer scrutiny shows role of a Musharraf aide, a member of Pak film censor Board who termed Khan as "hostile" to Pakistan. The actor was blacklisted in Pakistan last year when he raised anti-Pak sentiments and got into a brawl with a local TV anchor. Welcome's distributors in Pakistan are now in dilemma, as without the "RDX" the film remains incomplete. However in Mumbai many who have seen Welcome claim Khan's absence would not be missed. In fact they feel rather envious of Pak viewers that they will not have to suffer the boisterous actor.
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Hey Ram! Will it ever end?
Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Tushar is upset with Kalyanam Venkitaraman former personal assistant to Mahatma Gandhi. Venkitaraman recently claimed that Gandhi did not utter, "hey Ram" in his dying moment.
Tushar accuses Venkitaraman as a "sangh parivar stooge" while finding many holes in PA's claim. The grandson wonders how Venkitaraman never deposed before the Kapoor commission of inquiry and does not figure in the list of persons who had given statement to Delhi police shortly after Gandhi was shot in Birla house Delhi? It is time for Venkitaraman to come clean. |
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