Fear of phone taps isn’t just afflicting journalists and public relations professionals in Delhi. It has politicians in Maharashtra running scared too. The latest provocation being revelations that Shiv Sena executive president’s personal assistant Milind Narvekar had allegedly instructed party legislator Neelam Gorhe to vandalise buses during the bandh organised to protest against the removal of a statue of Dadoji Konddev, Shivaji’s guru, from Lal Mahal by the Pune Municipal Corporation. This information was the result of a phone tap by the Pune police. What worries politicians is not the immoderate nature of Narvekar’s orders but that they could become victims of a larger conspiracy. So, the New Year resolution of many state politicians is to talk less on the phone and meet more often.
Media shy
Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal had a conference on January 1 to announce his ministry’s 100-day plan. When he finished speaking, a reporter asked him about his New Year’s resolution. His answer: “I have to be careful with the media.”