Through the third eye

Talk of the group of ministers (GoM) quickly clearing a caste-based census ended with the idea coming up against in-house roadblocks. Some in the Congress always felt it wouldn’t be an easy ride for the GoM on the contentious issue which saw Pranab Mukherjee (for) and P Chidambaram (against) differing right from the word go.

What also alerted some Congress members was the opposition expressed by even usually safe-playing loyalists like Anand Sharma, Pavan Bansal, Kapil Sibal and Ajay Maken. So these Congress circles now wonder whether there is a link between this vocal opposition and Rahul Gandhi’s often repeated sound bytes that he did not believe in a caste-system and that being ‘Indian is his only social identity’ . With trusted 10 Janpath player A K Antony too airing his scepticism in the last GoM meet about rushing in with the caste-based census, murmurs about a sub-plot have thickened.


Home truths

AS the Centre and the Congress high command laboured hard to stabilise a tottering Omar Abdullah and make him look more chief ministerial, a tricky detail added to the dismay. Even as the Valley saw daily protests, none of the zonal presidents of the NC was seen rallying behind the CM. Barring the law minister who had to act as the CM’s spokesman, no one came out in solidarity with Omar till the Centre coaxed a couple of ministers to visit the affected areas. The other pointer was the silence Farooq Abdullah chose to maintain while on holiday abroad even as his son was reduced to a general without an army. Can a smart sound-byte fix the home-front disconnect?

Hobson’s choice

The CPI-M polit bureau meeting made it clear the party feels there is no point in ignoring the truth any more. So, it agreed, after the civic poll rout and pro-Mamata rejig in the Bengal PCC, there is now no scope to divide the Congress and Trinamul. The PB also felt the leadership’s political resistance to the Indo-US N-deal was faulty. A bigger political mess-up was the failure to topple UPA-1 even after the noisy Left pull-out . This, it was felt, further damaged the Left’s image and hastened its isolation in the LS poll.

In short, LK Advani —who blogged a tongue-in-cheek “welcome back” message for the comrades on their coy visit to the BJP Parliamentary party office proposing a floor-tango — may have to lend his ‘iron shoulder’ to the jittery visitors as the countdown for the Bengal-Kerala ground-battle advances.

Quizzical questions

A cellular major, cashing in on football mania, set up a multiple answer SMS quiz contest. But an enthusiast was foxed by “Which year did Hungary score the maximum goals in a single match?” The options were 1954 and 1920. But the world cup did not exist in 1920, the other choice was also wrong as Hungary's highest score in a single match was in 1982, when it drubbed El Salvador 10-1. When he asked the company, the PR agency got into the act and claimed the mistake had been quickly realised and a revised question sent out.

But our man never got one. Then it said the question was sent to only a small group of people, so the damage wasn't 'that much' and also went on to say that since this contest was free (which it isn’t, every answer is charged Rs 3), it wasn’t much of an issue. Meanwhile, our man SMSed 1954 as the answer, and the automated system congratulated him for having answered correctly, and sent him the next question! Facts, too, get substitutes, it seems!