Big guns meet in Capital

Modi had also attended the tilak ceremony of the couple in Mulayam’s ancestral village in Uttar Pradesh on February 21. After he blessed the newly-weds, Modi walked back to the VIP enclosure. On his right sat Lalu, and sitting next to the RJD chief was Modi’s bête noire, Nitish Kumar, who recently returned as the Bihar chief minister.

Modi and Kumar shook hands. A source sitting in the enclosure told HT the PM asked the CM, “How do you do?” He also spoke of how Bihar could look forward to overcoming budget deficit, a reference to the Centre giving states a larger share of taxes on the recommendations of the finance commission. Observers said this was the first conversation between the two leaders in years.

BJP patriarch LK Advani was among the first political guests to arrive. Finance minister Arun Jaitley greeted Uttar Pradesh chief minister and groom’s uncle Akhilesh Yadav with a hug and then went on shake hands with Kumar. The two had worked closely when the BJP and the JD(U) were partners in the NDA.

BJP leader Sushil Modi, who will be Lalu-Nitish’s principal opponent when Bihar goes to polls later this year, was also at the reception.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi spent some time with Advani and Mulayam in the enclosure after giving her blessings to the couple. As she was leaving, her daughter Priyanka walked in with husband Robert Vadra.

Many of Sonia’s party colleagues including Digvijaya Singh and Sheila Dikshit were at the reception.

So were NCP chief Sharad Pawar and daughter Supriya Sule. Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik, who has had some run-ins with the state government, was among the guests.

Lalu was the harassed father of the bride -- clearing the stage of crowds, warding off “trespassers” from the VIP enclosure and trying to maintain order.

But guests were busy taking in the power show and discussing what it meant for politics. “We may be down but are not out. The reception shows that. It also shows despite political rivalry, Indian leaders know how to maintain personal courtesies,” an RJD MLA from Bihar said.

Jaitley said defence minister Manohar Parrikar could brief Singh and former defence minister AK Antony on projects being held up due to the old law.

Jaitley also took a dig at alliance partner Shiv Sena whose leaders had spoken against certain provisions of the ordinance. “You are more nationalist than us. Think about how this (UPA law) plays with nationalism,” Jaitley said pointing to Sena member Sanjay Raut.

Responding to criticism from the Left parties, Jaitley wondered why West Bengal and Kerala were the only big states in the country that suffered revenue deficit.

Hitting out at criticism that the ordinance was antifarmer, Jaitleypointed out that rural infrastructure, including irrigation, was also in the exempted category in the ordinance, which seeks to remove the consent clause for acquiring land under five categories — defence, rural infrastructure, affordable housing, industrial corridors and infrastructure projects, including public private partnership projects, where the Centre owns the land. The UPA had put 13 areas in the exempted list, the NDA added five more, the minister said.

It may examine all concerned parties again if required, said the source.

Qureshi’s premises were searched in February last

year too, by the income tax department, on suspicion that his firms were under-reporting turnovers. The agency had then launched an investigation against him for alleged evasion of tax worth R200 crore. His alleged contacts with a few senior bureaucrats, serving and retired, had also come under public gaze following the I-T investigation.

After receiving documents from the I-T department indicating alleged Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations by Qureshi and his Delhibased business entities, the ED last month lodged a case against him, as reported by HT on January 23.

It is verifying allegations that Qureshi remitted around R100 crore outside India, including to Europe, through trade associates in Hong Kong and Dubai with the help of Delhibased hawala operators, said the source.

The ED is examining allegations that the payments were primarily made to settle the expenses of Qureshi and his family — for hotel stays and shopping trips abroad and payments to a French architect for designing a posh residence in Chattarpur, among other things.

It is also probing whether alleged “intelligence channels” were accessed to facilitate the making of irregular remittances, said the source.

It was decided that the Opposition would agitate and relent only after Naidu’s apology. Sonia too insisted on an apology. “It is a question of our honour. He (Naidu) must express regret. It should not become a practice. We will not tolerate it,” Congress leader

Mallikarjun Kharge said.

Sensing the Opposition plan to derail the presentation of the railway budget in the Lok Sabha, Naidu sought truce and made a suo motu statement, saying he respected all parties and leaders, and had not used any unparliamentary language.

“I only said what happened in your time and what is happening in our tenure. I also mentioned about the thinking of the present government.”

BJP sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley had prompted Naidu to put an end to the controversy.

Mohapatra, who is Hussain’s batchmate from Odisha, will fill the vacancy created by LC Goyal’s appointment as home secretary this month. He will, however, continue to hold additional charge of fertilisers for three months.

Goyal moved to North Block after predecessor Anil Goswami was sacked for interfering in a CBI probe.

Panchayati raj secretary Ashok Kumar Angurana, a Jharkhand-cadre officer, has been moved to the animal husbandry department. His successor in panchayati raj will be SM Vijayanand.

The government relaxed its decision to debar a UP-cadre officer, Jivesh Nandan, from central deputation.

The 1987-batch officer did not join the defence ministry in 2013 after being appointed

to it on deputation.

The bar was lifted on the condition that Nandan – who has co-authored a book with his bureaucrat-wife Leena – must join the defence ministry as joint secretary.

Health secretary Bhanu Pratap Sharma has been given additional charge in the department of health research where the incumbent KM Katosh has retired.