The PM's got Mamata's tongue

For someone who never misses an opportunity to bash the Left, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has been unusually silent through the Lalgarh crisis in West Bengal. Not one television soundbyte, not one press statement. Is there a braveheart out there who's succeeded in gagging this feisty lady? It took the combined weight of Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee to subdue Mamata. At a high level meeting at Race Course Road last week, they warned her to speak at her peril. Citing intelligence reports, they told her that Maoists from Nepal are suspected to have infiltrated into Lalgarh and are fanning the flames. The centre has decided to help the state government to crack down before these groups fan out into other areas and she should desist from raising objections, they said. Faced with such a forbiding array of seniors, Mamata was at a loss for words, for once. She flounced out, took the evening flight to Kolkata and has not been heard of since. An intrepid reporter who dared to ask for her whereabouts was ticked off. She's busy with her paintings, was the terse reply from her residence. Mamata failed to show up in Delhi for Friday's meetings of the union cabinet and the cabinet committee on economic affairs. And officials in the railways ministry are at their wit's end over the nonavailability of their minister at this crucial juncture when they are preparing the rail budget. But then, that's Mamata Banerjee.
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Former human resource development minister Arjun Singh is said to be a very angry man. The cause of his ire is the spate of leaks from his erstwhile ministry about the questionable certification of deemed universities during his tenure. The last report suggested that the ministry is contemplating ordering an official inquiry. On a rare visit to the Congress party headquarters in the Capital recently, Singh refused to answer a spate of questions from inquisitive journos seeking his reaction to what seems to be developing into an embarrassing scandal for the UPA government. ``I am in silent mode,'' he told the correspondents surrounding him. Later, in a smaller gathering of loyal aides, he added that his silence at this point does not mean that he will stay quiet forever. The party is on tenterhooks now, wondering what the threat means. Singh has a history of firing salvos at the Congress leadership whenever he's in a tight spot. Given his emotional vulnerability these days, no-one knows quite what to expect.
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Losing an election can prove expensive. After riding high for ten years, first in the NDA government and then in the UPA government, the PMK's comprehensive defeat in the recent polls has left it shellshocked and penniless. Its former MPs flew to Delhi quietly, cleared out their bungalows and left without meeting anyone. The party has also wound up the Delhi offices of its television channel, Makkal TV, and its daily newspaper, Tamil Osai, and shrunk its operations in Tamil Nadu too. The explanation is a severe resource crunch after the costliest election Tamil Nadu has ever seen.
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Tailpiece
There's no excuse for unfit MPs any more. The Constitution Club for MPs in Delhi is fitted with a swanky new gym and a spa staffed by trained masseuse. The brain behind the makeover of what used to be a rather dreary place is former BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy, himself a fitness freak. But the young Turks in the new Lok Sabha seem to prefer the luxurious surroundings of five-star hotel health clubs because the Constitution Club gym is hardly used.