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	Virendra Kapoor

November 17, 2001

	The hydra-headed National Democratic Alliance government in New Delhi, unsurprisingly, speaks in many voices. What we are talking about is the reported proposal by the United States for a military tie-up in the wake of the September 11 attacks. While Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh insisted there was no such proposal, Home Minister L K Advani and Defence Minister George Fernandes said there indeed was one. Advani and Fernandes spoke the truth. But the Americans, embarrassed by the premature publicity, denied the move, given their need to keep Pakistan in good humour. The denials and confirmations exposed the divisions in the Cabinet Committee on Security. Vajpayee and Jaswant Singh were keen to endorse the US proposal. Advani and Fernandes were sceptical and wanted time before agreeing to what the Americans brought in. Washington was keen to enlist India's support, particularly for servicing its vast naval fleet. Given the Arab world's squeamishness in aiding the US, such a proposal made immense logistic sense. Food, fuel and maintenance supplies for US ships in the Arabian Sea were to be sourced from India. Indeed, a US warship was near Bombay a few days after the proposal was first mooted by the Americans. India's reluctance to acknowledge it can be attributed to electoral politics. It felt its Muslims, who constitute about 14 per cent of the total population, would look upon any assistance to the US negatively, as a 'sell-out'. Just like hawala Another case of corruption, another diary. This time it belongs to the jailed chairman-cum-managing director of Flex Industries, Ashok Chaturvedi. If you remember, he was arrested by the CBI while allegedly bribing Delhi Excise and Customs chief Someshwar Mishra. Appears Chaturvedi had listed the sums he paid various people in the world of politics and bureaucracy. Among his regulars was a MP who not only sourced his air tickets from the Flex boss but depended on him for the expenses of his personal staff too. If only... Man proposes, god disposes. When he was the Union minister for tourism, Ananth Kumar had lined up a few foreign trips. But before he could make 'em, he found himself replaced by Jagmohan. Jagmohan a man of spartan habits was not too keen on foreign jaunts. But since last-minute cancellations could prove embarrassing for the hosts, he went ahead with the trips. Poor Kumar. It must have broken his heart to see Jagmohan fly first to China and then, after a small gap, to Great Britain! To scribes, with love It was a low-key Diwali this year, with the number of gifts exchanged much, much fewer than in the years before. But Power Minister Suresh Prabhu did not want to miss the opportunity to humour the media in the capital. He dutifully dispatched a set of seven glass bowls to newspaper offices a day before the festival. Illustrations: Uttam Ghosh Mail us your comments Capital Buzz
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