The president, the vice president and the prime minister as well as Congress chief Sonia Gandhi sent congratulatory messages to DMK chief and Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi on his 87th birthday on Thursday but the occasion was marred by media reports that A Raja of the DMK could be dropped from the union cabinet following the controversy over 2G allocation.

Karunanidhi says Raja is being hounded because he is a dalit. During his visit to Delhi last month, the DMK supremo had personally appealed to Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh to save Raja from the opposition onslaught.

But now the speculation within DMK is that Raja is being asked to take moral responsibility and quit till the CBI completes its probe – the way George Fernandes did after the Tehelka episode.


Spike in militancy in Punjab?

The Intelligence Bureau is concerned about the upsurge of militancy in Punjab, as indicated by a lot of intercepts. Phone calls from and to the Canada-based Khalistan Organisation through ISI are increasing and cells are being establishing in rural Punjab. The state police are being alerted off and on, but the centre seems not satisfied with the follow-up action. The RAW with the help of
military and air intelligence has proved that conference calls between rural areas of Punjab, Islamabad and Canada are being made quite often.


Farook's prayers

Jharkhand governor MOH Farook prays every day that he should not be defamed like his predecessors Pabhat Kumar or Sibti Rizvi who were sacked unceremoniously.

Farook is proud to say that during his tenure as ambassador to Saudi Arabia he went seven times to Mecca and Madina. And he ensured the Haj pilgrims from India, especially the elderly, are not inconvenienced. His stay as chief minister of Puducherry was a turning point in his life. But now he is frustrated because of the corrupt regime in Jharkhand.

When he met the prime minister on Thursday, Farook had with him a two-page confidential report on the political situation in the state. In his report, he has advocated conducting panchayat elections in the state by September 2010 – Jharkhand has not held panchayat elections since its inception 10 years ago.

Farook is also meeting UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and home minister P Chidambaram before returning to Ranchi on Friday.