Swaraj's visit to open doors for Indo-Pak dialogue

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will visit Pakistan this week. The event is a 27-nation meeting on Afghanistan, which will be held in Islamabad, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif met in Paris, where they had gone to attend the global climate change summit. India had been invited for the conference, which will be held on December 7 and 8. The plan to send Swaraj came after the two leaders shook hands and shared a sofa for a few minutes on November 30. It was described as a "courtesy meeting" by government officials. Later, Sharif had said, "Talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi were good. Doors of dialogue should open."

The previous initiative for India-Pakistan talks came in July, when Modi and Sharif held a meeting in Russia's Ufa on the sidelines of a conference. Soon after, national security advisor-level talks were scheduled.

The initiative fell through at the last minute when the talks were cancelled over a proposed meeting between Pakistan's NSA Sartaj Aziz and the Kashmiri separatists. While Pakistan pushed for an "open agenda", India said there could be no such meeting and the agenda should be confined to terrorism.

In September, both PMs attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York and even stayed at the same hotel but there was no formal meeting. It should be kept in mind that Swaraj is going for an event which is not bilateral. So, expect no breakthroughs. But ,the ice would have been broken.

Will govt, Cong find a middle path on GST?
Congress President Sonia Gandhi returns to India after a medical check-up. Some time this week, the Congress will hold an internal meeting to discuss the proposals of the government on the goods and services tax (GST) Constitution amendment Bill. A number of proposals are on the table. The Congress has put three conditions: One, there should be a cap on the tax and to ensure it stays at a reasonable level, it should be made part of the Bill, so that it cannot be changed at will; second, an inter-state tax of one per cent demanded by some states be done away with; third, a dispute settlement mechanism other than the GST Council be created.

The politics of this is that these conditions have been set out by former finance minister P Chidambaram. Current Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has dismissed some of these conditions as "preposterous". Subsequent events ,including raids on friends of the Chidambaram family, suggest the government is trying to mount pressure on the Congress to agree. Will these tactics work? Not likely. But, GST has to be rolled out eventually. A via media might emerge this week.

Jan Lok Pal Bill in Centre, L-G's court
The signature legislation of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Jan Lokpal Bill, will move a step closer to becoming a reality this week. An amended version has been passed in the Delhi Assembly, currently in session. The amendments deal with selection and removal of the Lokpal. While the 'diluted' form of the Bill suggested only four members in the Lokpal selection committee, with the Delhi chief minister, the Assembly speaker, leader of opposition in the Assembly and the chief justice of Delhi high court, the amended Bill says there would be three additional members. The new members will include another judge from Delhi high court, any eminent personality selected the rest of the committee members and the Lokpal chairman from the next term.

For removal of the Lokpal, there would be a high court inquiry first before referring the matter to the Delhi Assembly, where two-thirds of the Delhi Assembly can vote to remove the Lokpal. However, in the 2011 Bill, a Lokpal could be removed only after being found guilty of wrongdoing by courts and a presidential clearance.

The rest of the provisions of the Bill have been kept unchanged. The Bill has to be cleared by the lieutenant-governor and the Centre before it becomes a law. Will that happen this week?

Birthday bash to fuel Pawar politics rumours
Sharad Pawar's family and his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), have organised a three-day bash for Pawar's 75th birthday in several cities: Delhi, Mumbai and finally Baramati on December 10. In Baramati, PM Narendra Modi has agreed to be the chief guest. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was invited but she is reluctant to attend, for it means sharing the stage with Modi.

The politics of the event? It is Maharashtra's worst kept secret that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would like nothing more than to shrug off the malefic presence of the Shiv Sena and embrace another partner. Barkis is willing. But, it will mean a realignment of political equations.

NCP and BJP sources tried to play down Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's recent trip to Baramati for an official event but Modi travelling all the way to Baramati to wish Pawar on his birthday could send a different message.