Sonia’s call to Jaya sets off speculation
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s congratulatory message to AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa on her spectacular victory in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections has sent a deep political message. While this is being seen as more than a mere “courtesy call” and a first move to be friendly with an old ally in political circles, it will be interesting to see how the AIADMK plays a role inside Parliament in the coming Monsoon Session.
Mrs Sonia Gandhi, also the UPA chairperson, has called Ms Jayalalithaa to congratulate her on the impressive victory in the elections. She spoke to Ms Jayalalithaa over the phone on Saturday.
“Mrs Gandhi called up all leaders from all the election-going states who have emerged victorious. Phone calls were made to leaders across political lines,” a senior Congress leader said.
There was speculation that Mrs Gandhi also invited Mr Jayalalithaa for tea in New Delhi, but there was no confirmation. Sources said Mrs Gandhi rang up all the leaders who emerged victorious in the just-concluded Assembly elections to Puducherry. Mr Rangasamy is a Congress rebel who launched his outfit on the eve of the polls and got a majority on his own in the 30-member Assembly.
The Congress chief also spoke to ally Mamata Banerjee, Assam CM Tarun Gogoi and Mr Oommen Chandy in Kerala, they said.
They said Mrs Gandhi had also called Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar when he won a second term last year.
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CBI: Govt will restructure important files
Age correspondent
New Delhi
May 15: The CBI on Sunday said that government departments were restructuring some important files, which reportedly had gone missing, in order to take forward the probe into the alleged scam in Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society in Mumbai.
“In connection with the investigation relating to the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society, Mumbai, the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) and other Central and state government departments are co-operating on all issues, and restructuring documents/files which may not be readily available with them,” a CBI statement said. The agency officials had said on Saturday that some more files pertaining to the housing society were missing from the MoEF. “Files which include letters issued by the environment ministry to the state government regarding Coastal Regulation Zone norms, and asking the society to approach the appropriate state government department for clearance, have gone missing,” a CBI official had said.
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