The hot gossip in Delhi’s Page 3 circles is that Octavio Quattrocchi’s son Massimo was sighted at a party on February 17 at which Priyanka and Robert Vadra were present. The party was hosted by the brother of an MP for his wife’s birthday. Priyanka was at the bash since she is friendly with the hostess, but the host cannot say categorically whether or not Massimo was present since there were 300 invitees and several more uninvited guests.

Suspicion has fallen on an Indian businessman who brought along members of the Italian delegation. Onlookers insist he was accompanied by four foreigners, but now he says he brought only two others to the party.

The CBI, meanwhile, sees no relevance in Quattrocchi’s son being in Delhi at the same time his father was detained in Argentina. No attempt has been made to check Massimo’s telephone records at the Oberoi hotel where he stayed. The CBI is so completely in the fabled “three monkeys” mode that it wants to see and hear nothing that will embarrass its political masters. It has actually declared on the Interpol Red Corner notice that the colour of Quattrocchi’s eyes and hair are unknown, although the accompanying picture leaves no one in any doubt!

Fishy business

Did Amar Singh harm Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s chances of being nominated as a presidential candidate by unilaterally announcing the Samajwadi Party’s support for him? For the Congress, it is certainly a minus point to be recommended by Amar Singh and party men privately accuse Prakash Karat of putting Singh up to it.

Relations between the CPIM and the Congress are so strained of late that Sonia Gandhi did not even touch the hilsa fish which was specially prepared in her honour at Somnath Chatterjee’s dinner recently.

Actually Amar Singh is playing his own game. He knows the more he praises Karat, the more suspicious the Congress gets of him. Mulayam’s lieutenant has made it clear that the Samajwadi Party is willing to back any candidate of the Left but not a Congress candidate. This seems to put paid to Sushil Kumar Shinde’s chances, since without the Samajwadi Party, the Congress cannot claim a clear majority in the electoral college.

Middle ground

The Nationalist Congress Party NCP tends to fish in troubled waters whenever its ally, the Congress, is in a tight spot. But for once Sharad Pawar is backing the government unreservedly. He supported the Congress on the near decision to impose President’s rule in Uttar Pradesh, even though he thought it was a bad idea personally, as he believes that when you are in an alliance you have to accept the majority view. “Who are we to say no.” On the Q-affair, Pawar has a different take from everyone else. As a former defence minister, he feels Rajiv Gandhi was wrongly advised in the first place to issue the edict that there should be no middlemen in defence contracts. The way the market works, middlemen are built into the system.

Ranking royalty

Royalty turned up in full force for Devyani Rana’s wedding, decked in regal finery including swords, emblems and even sashes. The former royals still adhere to the warrant of precedence laid down by the British. Those who were entitled to superior gun salutes automatically got precedence in greeting the couple. At the groom’s reception, the royals were less visible and those who came had toned down their attire. Arjun Singh’s zamindar family, after all, is not quite blue-blooded.

Restless voter

Congress general-secretary Digvijay Singh was philosophical about his party’s defeat in the Punjab and Uttarkhand elections. He recalled V.P. Singh’s analogy between the Indian electorate and a restless sleeper, burdened with all the worries in the world, who tosses and turns from one side of the bed to the other throughout the night. he Indian voter too swings from one side to the other since no party can satisfy his growing aspirations.