Vis-a-Vis

H.R. BHARDWAJ Union law minister versus ARUN JAITLEY BJP general secretary

"Our legal system has failed to provide proper justice to the people. I blame the high courts and Supreme Court for the destruction of the judicial system."

"The executive, judiciary and legislature should exercise restraint while making comments on each other."

EPILOGUE: Bhardwaj's proximity to the Gandhi family ensures he gets away scot free.

VOICES

"How can you expect the executive to be independent when each of its actions is questioned?"

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President

"The Government is being run by Sonia Gandhi, Jyoti Basu and Lalu Prasad Yadav."

L.K. Advani, BJP president

"If we wanted to build the Ram temple through dialogue then we would have talked to the leaders of the Muslim community and built it ourselves."

Pravin Togadia, VHP international general secretary

"Who will stop Sourav Ganguly's return to the national cricket team?"

Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, West Bengal chief minister

"Qazi Tauqeer's selection in a TV music talent-hunt show reeked of political interference as the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir (from where he hails) needed to be pacified."

Abhijeet, playback singer

THE BUZZ OF THE WEEK

With the winter session of Parliament beginning next week, UPA floor managers are grappling with problems within and without: an anticipated loss in Bihar, the Volcker report and the Left's belligerence on the Iran vote.

DHAKA: After several false starts, the SAARC summit in Dhaka ended on November 13 amid incremental results. Conscious not to embarrass his hosts, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made extra efforts to assuage Bangladesh, which expected him to explode on the issue of terrorism. Instead, he chose to be conciliatory, playing down the issue of terrorist camps and emphasising that a prosperous Bangladesh was in India's interest.

PICTURE SPEAK

Manmohan did not ruffle Dhaka at SAARC meet

Manmohan laid out a life-saving strategy for the regional body, including a plan to improve transit and communication links in South Asia and integrate it with the rest of Asia. For starters, India has proposed an open skies policy for SAARC countries and a South Asian University.

With the summit being held soon after the Delhi blasts, Manmohan politely conveyed the message to Pakistan Premier Shaukat Aziz that Islamabad was continuing with its policy of promoting cross-border terrorism and that this would turn public opinion in India against the peace process with Pakistan.

The next SAARC summit will be held in Delhi after two years and as the host, India will have to walk a diplomatic tightrope on, among others, the application of China and Japan for an observer status in the grouping.

-By Saurabh Shukla

CHANDIGARH: In politics, even the best planned moves can go awry. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was stepping on the gas to try his sworn political foe and Shiromani Akali Dal President Parkash Singh Badal and his parliamentarian son Sukhbir Singh in a string of disproportionate assets cases when there began serious rumblings within his party over the issue of corruption.

With a Congress MLA accusing a minister of the Amarinder Cabinet of being the most corrupt of them all, the Badal family not only has a breather but even an issue to launch a counter-attack.

-By Ramesh Vinayak

AWARDED: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UN Under Secretary-General Shashi Tharoor, the Tufts University President Medal, in recognition of the collaboration between the faculty of the university and the Indian people.

DIED: Madhu Dandavate, 81, trade unionist, veteran parliamentarian and minister in the Morarji Desai and V.P. Singh governments.

Index