30 Karnataka MLAs on 2.25cr junket to Amazon rain forests 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Bangalore: Thirty Karnataka MLAs are heading for the Amazon rain forests in January,ostensibly to understand its flora and fauna.After the expensive holiday that will cost the exchequer Rs 2.25 crore,they hope to replicate the ecosytem in the state.Thats not the only objective of their South American junket to Argentina,Brazil and Peru.
They will also study the waterfalls in the Amazon forests and sporting activity,especially football matches in Brazil.
The junket is on,confirmed Congress MLA Mallikaiah V Guttedar who heads the legislatures Committee on Estimates.He told TOI on Wednesday that theres nothing wrong in the fortnight-long trip.
We legislators get only one opportunity to undertake a study tour abroad in five years,whereas MPs go often.Theres nothing wrong in us going on these junkets. The trip is slated some time after a brief assembly session in January.The dates are yet to be finalized,Guttedar said.The trip will cost Rs 7.5 lakh per member.Well visit the Amazon forests and study the waterfalls there to see how they can be replicated in Karnataka,as we have thick forests here.Well visit Brazil to see the sporting activity there, he maintained.
A travel agency has drawn up the itinerary for the 15-night trip to the three Latin American countries.The MLAs will stay in starred hotels and will have to bear the cost of Englishspeaking tour guides in each of the cities.

STAYING PUT 
Meira gets dads bungalow for 25 yrs 

Mohua Chatterjee TNN 

New Delhi:Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will have access to the bungalow at 6,Krishna Menon Marg in Lutyens Delhi for at least another 25 years.It has been allotted to a foundation in her father and former deputy prime minister Babu Jagjivan Rams name that was launched on March 14,2008.
It took the government a while but 6,Krishna Menon Marg was allotted by the Directorate of Estates (DoE) to Babu Jagjivan Ram National Foundation on August 2,2013 till July 1,2038,according to the DoEs website e-Awas.
The last official occupant of the bungalow,where Babu Jagjivan Ram lived till his death in 1986,was Kumar after she became Union minister in the UPA-1 government in 2004.
She became the Lok Sabha Speaker in 2009 in the UPA-2 regime and moved to the Speakers residence at 20,Akbar Road.But she continued to occupy the Krishna Menon Marg bungalow,according to records kept by the CPWD,which is responsible for maintenance of government property.Allotments are made by DoE,under the urban development ministry.
Between 2009 and 2013,DoE claimed there were no claimants for 6,Krishna Menon Marg while the CPWD records acquired by RTI activist S C Agrawal show that it was allotted to Kumar,and a rent bill of Rs 1.98 crore was also sent to her.However,the government seems to have waived it,claiming it was sent under pressure of RTI.
On December 15,2010,the Lok Sabha secretariat wrote to Agarwal,Subhash Chandra Agarwal filed an RTI application dated 11.10.2010 which was received in this secretariat on 13.10.2010 and replied to by this secretariat on 10.11.2010. 
On May 26,2013,Agrawal wrote,This bungalow has been continuously under authorized or unauthorized occupation of family members of late Babu Jagjivan Ramji ever since he expired in the year 1986 Different departments of MoUD speak in different tones about occupant of this prime government property.The CPWD response was that this bungalow was under the occupation of Meira Kumar while the DoE for more than a decade recorded this bungalow as un-allotted.Even a rent bill of Rs 1.98 crore issued in the name of Meira Kumar was immediately taken back as having been issued under RTI pressure.

Congress remains split on naming Rahul as PM pick 

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi,while expressing his willingness to become the Congresss PM choice,has emphasized that he was never averse to power.He clarified that when he quoted Sonia Gandhi to say that power is like poison,he only meant that power should be used for the betterment of others,not for self-aggrandizement.Speaking to a Hindi daily,he did evade a direct response to a question about the possibility of a specific and direct declaration,saying this has never been the partys style.He also expressed reservations over the obsession with individual personalities and individual posts a reference to the incessant will he be,wont he be talk about whether he will be declared the PM nominee.
Yet,Rahuls remarks were interpreted as his readiness to be announced the PM candidate.There has been stubborn clamour within the Congress for the young leader to be named the partys PM pick.Significantly,the interview did not lift the uncertainty on what might unfold at the AICC session on Friday.The Congress seems to be divided on whether it should name Rahul as the PM candidate or should it stick to the old policy of going into elections without a formal PM nominee.The party has in the last week or so oscillated between the ambitious desire to declare Rahul as its PM nominee at the AICC huddle on the one hand,and the hardnosed recognition that doing so could be risky and might dent Brand Rahul at a time when the going is not good for the party.
A section in the party believes there is little to be gained by keeping the ambiguity about leadership since Rahul is anyway seen to be leading the Congress and applause and criticism are bound to be directed at him.This group believes that naming Rahul would give a sense of direction to the party and show it as a confident player in the 2014 elections.But opinion is divided because there is also another group that holds that putting Rahul up for the contest would harm the partys prospects.With the BJP having announced Narendra Modi as its PM candidate,it would bring Rahul directly in contest with the Gujarat chief minister and open him to closer scrutiny.
It is felt there is little to be gained from changing the party policy of not going into elections with a PM candidate.Many believe that facilitating a Rahul vs Modi battle will reduce the LS elections to a direct battle between two aspirants while keeping Rahul out of the PM race will let the battle become an aggregate of state elections.
Interestingly,the interview was marked by almost unprovoked reference to three figures from Indias history.India has witnessed Samrat Ashok,Akbar and Aurangzeb.Ashok is famous for integrating people,Akbar too worked in this direction and this is why people take their name with great respect.However,Aurangzeb is known for other reasons, he said.Many wondered whether the allusion was a dig at Modi.
Rahul also made his first direct criticism of the AAP.I dont agree with many of their recent decisions because our decisions should not be based on short-term gains,instead the decision should be made while keeping long-term benefits and a secure future for people, he said.

Times View: 

Although an online poll by this newspaper suggests that popular opinion is against Rahul Gandhi being projected by the Congress as its prime ministerial candidate,we feel he should take the plunge.There are two reasons for this.First,a strong perception has grown that the Gandhi scion is averse to taking up responsibility that comes with accountability.If he steps up to the plate for the upcoming PMs contest,he may or may not succeed,but he will certainly dispel this impression and will be taken seriously by the people.It can only help him.Secondly,for long Rahul has been hovering in the wings,exercising considerable authority without any formal responsibility for instance,the way he intervened to scupper an ordinance.But it is no substitute for real responsibility.Nor is it a happy situation.It's time for him to stand up and be counted.