It was a perfect example of Indian “hospitality” at the annual conference of chief commissioners and director generals of the Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC). After the finance minister’s speech, the media was asked to vacate the hall and proceed for snacks “immediately”. But reporters were hungry only for a byte from the finance minister – especially in view of the Ramdev fiasco – and chose to throng the hall instead. Fierce arguments broke out between the TV camera crews and CBEC officials who insisted everyone have tea, but Pranab Mukherjee managed to slip away without speaking to reporters.
Power drive
Being in power doesn’t always pay, as the MLA of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh discovered recently. An SUV belonging to an MLA from the Bundelkhand region was parked in Hazratganj, the tony marketplace in the heart of Lucknow. Hazratganj has been declared a no-parking zone after the government splurged nearly Rs 100 crore on its re-development as a Victorian-era commercial district. At first the SUV’s occupants tried to browbeat the traffic constable by using the MLA’s name. But when a lady assistant police superintendent (traffic) declined to be intimidated, the driver was forced to forfeit his driving licence. The traffic police is now wondering whether to send the challan receipt to the MLA’s address.