HOME | NEWS | CAPITAL BUZZ
		Virendra Kapoor

	Able Atal, when he went in for his operation, received a sea of get-well messages. Yeah, sure, we know you know that. Here's something you might not know. Among the thousands of names faithfully written in the visitor's book at the Breach Candy hospital, you will find Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia's too. Nothing wrong in that. Except, the gentleman never legged it to the hospital. "Seems he sent his representative, a Mr Chamcha, to write his name," says our source. "And, mind you," he adds, "Scindia isn't the only one who did that." The Congressman, it would appear, has borrowed a leaf from current West Bengal Governor Viren Shah. Back in 1978 when Charan Singh was engaged in a no-holds-barred struggle with then prime minister Morarji Desai, he was seriously taken ill and admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. For a few days no visitors were allowed. Well-wishers could, however, sign a visitor's book. There were quite a few loyalists of the late Jat leader who did trek to the hospital. But many others did not think it was necessary for them to personally go over. What they did was depute their factotums to sign in for them. One VIP was caught in the act -- Viren Shah, then a Rajya Sabha member of the now defunct Janata Party, who had despatched one of his men. As the chamcha was putting pen to paper, an elderly politician waiting behind confronted him. Aap Viren Shah to nahin hain. Main Lok Sabha ka member hoon aur unko acchhi tarah pehchanta hoon," said he. "You are not Viren Shah. I am a Lok Sabha member and I recognise Shah very well!" Unfortunately for us, nobody caught Scindia's man in the act. Silver for Vittal Chief Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal, as we all know, loves to harangue audiences across the nation on his pet topic: Corruption. But the people he goes to lecture are not at all amused by the anxiety his personal staff show to ensure that their boss is presented a silver salver. The CVC's aides, so tells us a little birdie, phone the heads of public undertakings, politely suggesting that Vittal be given a salver when he came to hold forth. Silver...now where did we hear that before? Ah, the Bible... something about 30 pieces. From one Aggarwal to another Former deputy director of the Enforcement Directorate Ashok Aggarwal, now jailed in connection with an income tax case, has found a kindred soul in his namesake who heads the Central Administrative Tribunal. A few days ago, the CAT chairman took it upon itself to "provide relief" to the disgraced Aggarwal. And he had the gall to tell the Central government counsel -- it is true, we swear -- "...since he is my namesake..." At one stage the chairman was all set to order Aggarwal's reinstatement. Only, the government counsel protested too powerfully. Silenced! When Arun Jaitley was the minister for disinvestment, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch was most vocal in opposing his policies. The SJM, controlled by S Gurumurthy, had openly criticised disinvestment in the PSU, Modern Foods Ltd. Indeed, thanks to Gurumurthy's influence on RSS chief K S Sudarshan, the latter too opposed the sale of Modern Foods to a "foreign multinational". But now that Arun Shourie has stepped into Jaitley's shoes, the SJM has lost its voice. Even when Shourie got the Cabinet to approve disinvestment in a number of PSUs, the SJM remained mute. The reason? Appears Gurumurthy and Shourie are, no pun intended, as thick as thieves. His last hurrah Former cabinet secretary Prabhat Kumar insisted on carrying out a wholesale reshuffle of secretaries to the government virtually hours before demitting office. Most surprising was the posting of Ajit Kumar as finance secretary in place of the affable P G Mankad. Kumar, a 1964 IAS officer, was in no small measure responsible for the controversial sacking of Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat. It is rumoured that Kumar's man-management is so greeat that if he does not get any senior babu to fight with, he would end up ticking off his own steno or peon. For such a man to be rewarded such a plum posting -- hmm, was that by any chance Prabhat Kumar's revenge for not being sent to Washington as ambassador? Capital Buzz
HOME | NEWS | MONEY | SPORTS | MOVIES | CHAT | INFOTECH | TRAVEL SINGLES | NEWSLINKS | BOOK SHOP | MUSIC SHOP | GIFT SHOP | HOTEL BOOKINGS AIR/RAIL | WEATHER | MILLENNIUM | BROADBAND | E-CARDS | EDUCATION HOMEPAGES | FREE EMAIL | CONTESTS | FEEDBACK