Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 26 February 2018 | Page 10

deep throat
Heroic pOLITICS
Now that Rajnikanth and
Kamalahaasan are winding up
their film careers to turn full-
fledged politicians, there is an
eager anticipation that other
heroes past their prime will
follow suit. The BJP is keen to
recruit Arjun, who played the
patriotic hero in his prime.
Though it already has the
glamorous and vocal
Khushboo as its spokesper-
son, the Congress has its eye
on Vikram, now that his son is
making his film debut. Tamil
Nadu needs fresh filmi faces
in its politics, as the likes of
Vijayakanth and Sharath
Kumar have not made any
headway even after more than
a decade of campaigning.
Power extension
The power corridors are abuzz
with talk about a successor to
Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha, who
was given a one-year extension in
2017 which will end on June 12.
The name of a senior Gujarat
cadre officer, believed to be close
to the PM, is doing the rounds.
While some insist that this
officer will take over from Sinha,
others say that it may not happen
since he would be superseding
half a dozen senior IAS officers.
Considering the government’s
unpredictability, there is also a
view that it may just give Sinha
another extension. His predeces-
sor Ajit Seth was given three—­
including two of six months each
by the Modi government—
and served for four years.
Incidentally, no Gujarat cadre IAS
officer has ever held the top job.
Pak-Pedalling
Farooq Abdullah had to do
damage control after his par-
ty’s MLA Akbar Lone shouted
pro-Pakistan slogans in the
State Assembly on the day mil-
itants barged into Sunjuwan
Army camp. Lone later said he
couldn’t bear the BJP’s accusa-
tions, blaming Rohingya
Muslims for the attack. The
NC, which had been attacking
the government over its failure
to prevent attacks, went on the
back foot. Abdullah had to
warn Pakistan of a war and talk
of peace and dialogue in the
same breath. NC sources claim
that this isn’t the first time—
Lone was embroiled in other
controversies when he was
speaker of the Assembly.
OVERHEARD Social media watchers are wondering about Arvind Kejriwal’s silence on the
Narendra Modi front. They claim he hasn’t used the word ‘Modi’ in any tweet since March 2017.
10 Outlook 26 February 2018