With just a few days left for UPA-II to sign off, corridors in the Finance Ministry have got new adornments — brand new steel dustbins! The shining bins are placed right next to the rooms of key officials. And they are chained to the nearest permanent structure, even though they are heavy and it is impossible for anybody to remove them from the high-security North Block. The joke doing the rounds is that the bins will make it easier for the new Government to rummage through them to find ‘clues’ to wrongdoings by the previous government.

What’s the reason?

At the press conference of a foreign bank, the business head of consumer banking ducked questions on subsidiarisation of its branches in India. When the media wanted a reason, he said it did not fit the bill at this point in time. Asked if the guidelines didn’t allow it, he said, “I wouldn’t want to talk about any specific issue.” When the media persisted, the business head still said, “I wouldn’t like to discuss this anymore, please.” If there is nothing in the guideline prohibiting subsidiaries, wonder what the foreign banks are waiting for? Probably for the RBI’s stick, that Rajan promised so gently.

CEO with a difference

Any message from a CEO evokes more than a passing interest and is taken seriously by business reporters. A colleague was foxed the other day when he got an SMS saying: “Delhi goes to polls on April 10, 2014 (7am to 6pm) Don’t forget to exercise your right. – CEO, Delhi.”

The colleague was perplexed, as such advice from a CEO is rare. However, it soon dawned on him that this CEO was none other than the Chief Electoral Officer — more powerful than any aam corporate CEO!

Aaya Rao, Gayaa Rao

Ayaa Rams and Gayaa Rams leave no stone unturned when it comes to switching parties. It’s as easy as changing clothes. Mynampalli Hanumantha Rao, a staunch Telugu Desam Party leader, quit the party in a huff when it failed to give him a ticket. He took a flight to Delhi the same evening and joined the Congress in the presence of Digvijaya Singh, obviously expecting a ticket. He woke up to see his name nowhere in the party list next morning. He wasted no time. He met Telangana Rashtra Samithi President K Chandrasekhara Rao the next day and joined the party. KCR, however, has not ditched him. Mynampalli got a TRS ticket for Malkajgiri Lok Sabha constituency, the largest in the country by number of voters — a little under 30 lakh of them.

Rickshaws too

In an age where candidates use private planes, helicopters and swanky SUVs to move around in, it is ironic that the use of the humble cycle-rickshaw must be accounted for if used in campaigning. The Election Commission has clarified that the cycle-rickshaw finds a mention in the Representation of the People Act 1951 as a vehicle that may be used in the election campaign. A candidate using one must provide details of the vehicle. A permit for the identification of the rickshaw driver may be given in his personal name by the Returning Officer. Rickshaws being used for normal purposes of carrying passengers in the ordinary course may be exempted, if they are displaying only one poster showing the name or party symbol of a candidate, the Commission has said.

Microsoft blues

During the first anniversary of the Nasscom 10k start-up programme, Google and Microsoft entered into a bit of banter. There were balloons in white and blue all over the room. Rajan Anandan, Google India head, asked, “why are there no other colour balloons apart from blue-coloured ones (blue is the predominant colour in Microsoft logo)?” To this, Mukund Mohan, of Microsoft Ventures, raised a laugh when he replied that with the company present in over 80 per cent of computing devices, it was appropriate that blue should be the colour.

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