The draft of president Pranab Mukherjee’s speech to the joint session of parliament at the beginning of the budget session has been finalised. The draft was given a careful reading by the cabinet on Wednesday. The prime minister asked the union ministers with independent charge also to take part in the discussion. To his dismay many of them did not turn up. The drill was that cabinet secretary Ajit Seth would read out the numericals of the paragraphs and the ministers would express their views. The PM wanted that the speech should not be too brief and it should have three-four lines on the working of each ministry. In total the draft speech contained 143 paragraphs. It was reduced to 110. Even that would have taken 50 to 60 minutes. The PM asked Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ashiwini Kumar to resubmit fresh contents as some parts of the draft were a repeat of previous speeches. On Thursday, the draft speech was submitted by the cabinet secretary to the. Now the president estate printing press will get it printed.

Unhappy allies

Two allies of UPA, DMK and National Conference, are unhappy: DMK, because it feels that the government has not done enough to stop atrocities against Tamils in Sri Lanka, and the NC because it feels the family of Afza Guru should have been informed of the execution in advance (at the very least). To deliver their strong message in public, they plan to shout slogans right during the president’s address to the joint session of parliament. A senior union minister is in touch with the DMK leaders in Chennai to impress upon them that the party should avoid raising slogans during the president’s address because it is a solemn occasion.

Change of guard in Maharashtra certain

Three names have begun to circulate as Prithviraj Chavan’s replacement. Manmohan Singh wants him to be accommodated properly, more than just a seat in Rajya Sabha. He could also be made a party general secretary. Buzz is now gaining momentum. It all depends on Sonia Gandhi’s health as she is unable to give much thought to the implications of a change in guard. In all probability, soon after the budget, in the first week of March, Maharashtra may have a new chief minister.