The Ministry of External Affairs has scored a triple victory in the Bhabani Sengupta affair. It turns out that the suggestion to install Sengupta in an official position had come in the first place from the MEA, which refused to part with its confidential files to an outsider even if he was an unofficial aide to the Foreign Minister. Once Sengupta was given the official designation of Officer on Special Duty, so that he could have access to the files, the Foreign Office worked overtime to discredit him as being an unsuitable government servant.

Before Gujral could make a formal announcement of the acceptance of Sengupta's resignation in Parliament, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) had informally confirmed the news. Taking advantage of this indiscretion, the MEA usurped the PIB's duties to look after the Indian Press on the PM's trips abroad. The Indian Press party to Male was handled by the MEA and not the bureau. Now trips accompanying the PM abroad are one of the well-recognised baits used by the PIB to keep journalists in line, and it feels somewhat powerless without it.

It is a pity that the savvy displayed by the MEA in one-upmanship over potential rivals in the bureaucracy is not reflected in its handling of India's opponents in international fora!

Backward Bill WHILE naive feminists hailed the bold initiative in introducing the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament, it was pushed through because of a power struggle within the Janata Dal rather than any concern for ensuring gender equality. Ram Vilas Paswan used the Bill to get closer to the new Prime Minister, I.K. Gujral, who is committed to women's causes, and at the same time, score points over his two Yadav adversaries Sharad and Laloo Prasad who are opposed to the Bill.

That the UF Government has no genuine commitment to empowerment of women is reflected in the pathetic number of its women MPs and the induction of a lone woman in a Cabinet of 40-odd men. The woman minister, Kanti Singh, matches Ram Manohar Lohia's description of ``goongi gudiya'' (dumb doll). Kanti's ministerial decisions are usually taken for her either by her political mentor, Laloo, or her husband, Keshav Singh. Kanti, who was selected by the UF instead of articulate, aggressive and informed MPs like Maneka Gandhi, Gita Mukherjee, Renuka Chowdhury, Kamla Sinha and Jayanti Natrajan, is probably archetypal of the kind of women MPs we may expect if the Bill is ever passed!

Tough Nuts GUJRAL may find it difficult to get rid of CBI Director Joginder Singh, who has grown into a Frankenstein's monster of Seshanesque proportions. H.D. Deve Gowda who appointed Singh had twice sought to remove him, but backed down at the last moment, even after the files of potential successors had been called. In the case of Gujral, apart from misgivings about what the courts might say, there is the fear that once out of the CBI, Singh might turn out to be be a totally unguided missile and embarrass the Government further, considering he has access to all the politically sensitive cases. Removing Singh is just one of Gujral's problems. There are other Gowda appointees, most notably Cabinet Secretary T.S.R. Subramaniam, who is on an extension, and Home Secretary K. Padmanabhaiah, on his second extension. They too, in a more subtle way, are a law unto themselves.

Deliberate Blunder? WAS it a deliberate slip or just ham-handedness? The Income -Tax Department served a notice on Bofors accused Win Chadha on the basis of an information provided to the CBI by the Swiss Government. This is in violation of the Mutual Assistance Treaty under which the Swiss handed over details of the bank accounts into which Bofors payments were made. Under the treaty, the information can be used only for prosecution in the criminal offence specified.

The I-T notice gives ammunition to the powerful NRI business family, which is fighting a last-ditch legal battle to prevent the details of bank transactions of the Tulip Lotus and Mont Blanc accounts from being given to the CBI.