US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Joginder, Gill take ill with ticket fever

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

'Tis catching, is this ticket fever. And near incurable.

You, being hale, hearty and an ex-cop, feel that you can cheat it. But think again -- for, like all noble illnesses, this one cares not for your status. It takes you by the throat when it feels like, shakes you down mighty and, then, puts you in bed, all weak and giddy, for at least a couple of weeks...

And so it happened with two former police officers. Their names you must be familiar with -- Kanwar Pal Singh Gill and Joginder Singh. The former of the Punjab fame and the latter of the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Both men, our sources email us, are in a bad way, going around looking for political parties to remedy their ailment. Gill seems to have the support of the Congress leaders in Punjab. Besides, he has been sounded out by the BJP.

Which act, according to the latest email from our sources, has placed the supercop in something of a dilemma: saffron or hand, which should it be?

Political pundits, incidentally, say that it won't help Gill much if he swings the BJP way. The reason being, the Akalis would refuse to support Gill. They blame Gill for killing 'innocent' Sikhs in fake encounters at the height of militancy.

The Congress, for its part, is not exactly averse to having him. But his record in the Rupan Deol Bajaj case -- otherwise known as the bottom-pinching episode -- is none too arresting. Besides, giving him a seat is equivalent to giving the Akalis a stick to beat the Congress with...

As for Tiger Joginder, he has his own problems. The little research undertaken by his henchmen have told him that the Akali-BJP combine would not do too well in Punjab. So, the Congress ticket it is he would be after if he screws up enough courage to take the plunge.

Sources said that when Tiger met Dr Manmohan Singh to press for his candidature from Ferozepur, he was asked a single, solitary question: Why did he join a certain BJP rally a few years ago?

Tiger obviously had no answer and -- this from very reliable sources, mind you -- left the place feeling utterly "humiliated."

But all is not lost for him. "I have been told that my fate would be decided by Congress president Sonia Gandhi," Joginder told a scribe.

As for the BJP, the retired sleuth is not too enthu -- a feeling which the saffronites share. The party feels that Tiger removed former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's name from the list of Bofors kickback recipients. Tiger is aware of this; the indication had come a few months ago when Home Minister L K Advani ordered his security cover withdrawn.

Tell us what you think of this report