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The on-going general election has given a whole new meaning to the names of political parties, at least in Delhi. The oldest political party in the country, the Indian National Congress, more popularly known as the INC, has become the latest way of sending regrets for not going to a social party. For many, INC is short for I’m not coming. Irrespective of which party you are a candidate of, the Samajwadi Party, or SP, tag is the surest way to judge among the people if you are winning or not. For many in the electorate, SP stands for Safe Party. Meanwhile, given the high likelihood of a hung Parliament, CMP has become an important document in the wheeling and dealings. While for most political parties, CMP may be short form for Common Minimum Programme, for the business community, it means Collect Money Promptly.

GSM and CDMA telecom operators have been at each other’s throats for almost a decade now over something or the other. Both sides have repeatedly used “the level playing field” argument to support their claims that the Government’s decisions have been in favour of the other. But a letter sent last week from the CDMA camp to the Department of Telecom takes the cake when it comes to using the level-playing field theory.

The industry body representing the CDMA camp claimed that DoT has disturbed the level-playing field by visiting only those countries dominated by GSM-based operators for studying the international trends in spectrum allocation. The CDMA camp is peeved that DoT had rejected an offer to tour countries where there are CDMA operators. “Till now we had to make sure our policies were balanced, now it seems even foreign visits will have to be mindful of the GSM-CDMA rift, as if our decisions are based entirely on these tours and not on the technical expertise we have,” groans a DoT official.

The current SAIL chairman has devised a new method of achieving greater efficiency. After a long meeting last week over the prospects of the steel industry in the coming years, he was thronged by journalists. He spoke to some TV journalists first and then, when the print pack asked him a question, he said, “Weren’t you taking notes while I was speaking to the TV cameras?” Well, old chap, smart question, but remember the cardinal principle: People read wha t you say in print while they only see you on TV.

“I am a ‘Jee Huzur’ man. Whenever asked to step down (by High Command) I oblige. I left power (as Chief Minister of Maharashtra) once and Vilasrao Deshmukh did it twice. Both of us are ‘Jee Huzur’,” Shinde said, while addressing a rally of party workers at Latur, home town of Deshmukh.

If the Congress President asks the Prime Minister to resign, will he defy her? Yes = strong; No = weak.

OUR DELHI BUREAU

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