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                        Virendra Kapoor
   July 2, 2001

Once a roaring tiger, now a silent pussycat.

That is Vincent George for you today -- powerless, secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi only in name.

Since his second innings at 10 Janpath following the Central Bureau of Investigation case against him, George finds himself completely sidelined.

The Important Issues he handled have all been taken over by the new aides, and he has no access to Gandhi (whereon his power hinged).

Why, he has even lost the office he occupied next to the Congress president -- she has, we are told, converted it into a visitor's room!

Congress general secretary Ambika Soni now acts as Gandhi's gatekeeper. As for George, he hangs around, doing any errands that comes his way....

Hawk Advani

A friend waiting in the visitor's room of a Union minister's home overheard the following conversation between two greasy-looking gentlemen.

Gentleman 1: "After tehelka our cases are not being cleared speedily."

Gentleman 2: The problem is not tehelka. It is [Home Minister L K] Advani. After tehelka he has begun to keep an eye on all ministers. [Name deleted]ji knows it. Last time I met him he promised to sort out things soon..."

Advani, we are sure, would be happy to know he is a thorn to fixers and liaison men!

Malice or mistaken identity?

Call it a case of mistaken identity or plain malice, but someone is bound to pay for this.

Recently, a Hindi newspaper reported that Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley had gone to Chicago about his daughter's admission to an educational institution there. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The report also conjured up an NRI meeting addressed by Jaitley, which ended up in a melee. Not an iota of truth in that either!

Jaitley's programme was drawn up months in advance. Among other official work, he addressed the prestigious Kellogg Business School.

Looks like the newspaper had mixed up Jaitley's agenda with that of Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Illustrations: Uttam Ghosh

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