The Joint Parliamentary Committee and the Public Account Committee formed for the 2G investigation are at loggerheads with each other. PC recently called editors of two magazines – Outlook’s Vinod Mehta and Open’s Manu Joseph. It was Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt next. While this was happening, a handful of journalists went running to JPC Chairman P C Chacko and told him their grievances and also told Chacko how he was being made the scapegoat in the BJP-Congress rife, since PAC’s chairman is BJP’s Murli Manohar Joshi. The journalists also argues that the PAC had been formed to investigate the CAG report on 2G scam but there was no mention of the Niira Radia tapes in the CAG report. If it does at all, it comes under the JPC area. Radia tapes have also mentioned Suhel Seth and Ranjan Bhattacharya so will the CAG summon them as well? After listening to the journalists, Chacko is busy telling Joshi’s his work area. The days to come might see the JPC vs PAC face-off.

The vice president is upset, and with good reason. Before the Rajya Sabha is convened in the Parliament, there is a meeting held in the vice president’s office in the morning wherein Parliamentary affairs are discussed. Ashvini Kumar, a member of the house is hardly ever present for the same because his focus at that time is on the 10.50 am meeting at the prime minister’s office. According to the protocol, the briefing of the prime minister has to be done by the Central Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pavan Bansal, but in the quest to come closer to the PM, Ashvini briefs him before Bansal. Here Bansal is shocked by the uninvited guest and the vice president isn’t pleased either.

How did Wikileaks ever get hold of these confidential cables? Every Embassy, under a protocol, has the liberty to send cables to its country in coded language. There are five mediums for this – regular telephone (but it runs the risk of phone tapping), hotline, internet, satellite phone and wireless. Satellite phones are monitored by the US itself and thus, it too isn’t reliable. The internet is teeming with hackers. So the medium that is most reliable is wireless, wherein the message comes from the encryption centre in a code and the recipient gets the message after deciphering it. The method is still manual in other countries but computerized in the US. In the American State Department, there are separate desks for different countries. These computerised messages are captured in the computer and then can be heard after decoding. Wikileaks has found a way to get to these codes and is able to decode these codes from different countries. The entire matter is, thus, about these codes being hijacked.

The eclipse of 2G scam may shadow foreign investment in the country. Germany has actually sent out an advisory that German industrialists should invest in India cautiously. Telecom companies such as Etisalat from the Middle East and Telenor from Sweden are also facing problems since their 2G license may be taken away. Their logic is, “Why are we being blamed when we have bought the license at market rates. You should be after those who bought the license dirt cheap and then sold it off to us at high price.” Which would mean the finger may point at Tata, Ambani, Unitech and others. Corporate India, thus, is more than miffed with the current government and wants the Manmohan Singh government to go. The Dramuk trouble was a forerunner to this, since industrial houses are helping the party and fanning the fire. It is said that even Tata bought the 2G spectrum license at Rs 1600 crore and sold it at Rs 12,000 crore. But no one’s pointing any fingers there.

Hasan Ali walks free in a free India. But all independence comes at a cost. Our investigative agencies aren’t on the same wavelength regarding how much money Ali has in foreign banks through Hawala. And even if it is not the amount quoted by the media, it is a big scam nevertheless. Sources reveal that most of this money has come to Ali by selling the Nizam’s property in Hyderabad. Now that the Nizam is settled in Australia, Ali made a neat sum as commission by selling his huge property. Why the investigative agencies aren’t being strict on him is not a matter of contention anymore. After all, this has political overtones.

After getting the permission from the Cabinet, the government has come with a bill wherein the retirement age of high court judged will be increased from 62 to 65. This will be the 114th Amendment of the Constitution. The government believes that this will postpone the nomination of judges for at least three years, and that will result in a speedy case hearing and closing. The judge will get time to give a verdict for the case he has. But it is believed that the Supreme Court does not agree with the government on the same because according to the present method, those high court judges who are good are brought to the Supreme Court as a reward. And with the new arrangement, not many judges would like to come to the Apex court, since they will not be able to practice after retirement from the Supreme Court. Because according to the present rules, the judges cannot practice in the same courts they retire from.

Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra is said to have a great relationship with a member of the most powerful political party in India. Maybe that is the reason there are talks about making him the approver in the case and his arrest is merely a formality. Similarly, no harm will come to the Ruia family. BJP Parliamentarian Nishi Kant can breather easy after all.

Other players in the 2G scam, such as Vinod Goenka, who owns the Baramati dairy (Baramati being Pawar’s constituency) and DB Realty’s Shahid Balva (also close to Pawar) were interrogated softly by the CBI. The interrogation didn’t last more than half and hour. Until now people were trying to figure out who the owner of DB Realty was, which handles all the infrastructure projects of the Maharashtra government. Balwa is said to be fond of working out and gymming. He could be seen doing the same at the CBI headquarters, and made the officials do so, too. Balva also has friends such as Piyush Goyal of the BJP and it is said that the Meridian Hotel in Mumbai also belongs to him.

Few people will know that Mamta is also a good painter. So when she reached the Parliament on Friday, the Speaker during a conversation asked her why she didn’t put up her art exhibition in the Parliament Annexe? Mamta readily agreed and has even chosen a topic for her exhibition “Violence or peace”. With the exhibition, not only does Mamta want to teach a lesson to her political foes, but also knows that it will be a direct shard at the Left parties. For the New Year greeting cards from TMC, she uses her paintings or sketches. Usually when she is on the Kolkata-Delhi flight, she is immersed in painting and sketching – she always carries sketch pens and a notepad in her handbag. Clearly, she is all set to paint the political canvas with her imaginative colours.

While earlier most ministers in the government would lean more towards 10, Janpath, their loyalties are now changing with political times. Take P Chidambaram, for instance. He would not only show himself to be loyal to 10, Janpath, but also show himself as a part of the PM’s coterie. Now he is clearly in the PM’s camp. And why not? After the budget session, the prime minister wants to give the finance ministry back to Chidambaram. The economist Manmohan Singh’s heart lies with finance ministry, where the current minister Pranab da doesn’t think of seeking any advice from the PM.