Sonia and mom in Goa (January 12, 2010)

Congressmen and businessmen here in Goa would have fallen head over heels to meet her and greet her a Happy New Year. But, they just didn't know.

The most powerful woman in India, perhaps Asia and the world, was here in Goa to spend a quiet New Year's eve on its sandy shores. Sonia Gandhi spent two nights at the Leela's in Cavelossim along with her mother Paola Maino on December 30 and 31 and left from here for Lakshwadeep on New Year's day. Her daughter Priyanka with husband Robert Vadra, was also here with the kids, two days earlier. While Priyanka and Robert were publicly spotted at a couple of places including in the North, Sonia was confined to the hotel with her aged mother.

Interestingly, no one, absolutely no one, knew of the UPA chairperson's stay. If IB sources are to be believed, it was a 100 per-cent 'private visit' and even the security establishment in Goa was kept in the dark, although the SPG was covering the family 100 per-cent.

But as fate would have it, Sonia wasn't spared a chance meeting with a senior Congressman, both when she boarded the regular commercial flight in Delhi and when she landed at Dabolim as well. Who was the lucky Congressman? Well it was the Union Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad. But, the meeting wasn't all too happy a moment for Azad. Turns out that while Azad and family were booked in 'business class', Sonia and her aged mother flew economy class, leaving the lanky Kashmir politician pink in the face.

As for Goa's Congressman, not one of them got wind of the visit and so we in the newsrooms were spared the photo flood of bouquet-wielding rogues in power either greeting Madam, or in a queue waiting to greet her.

Churchill Brothers’ Musli Power

It's strange how advantages in life actually end up becoming adversities. Churchill Alemao learnt it the hard way last week when his Churchill Brothers football team got embroiled in a controversy mid-air.

It was just two months ago that the patriach of the Alemao clan clinched a sponsorship deal with the makers of ayurvedic aphrodisiac Musli Power Xtra. According to one account, Churchill was to be paid Rs 18-crore over three years under the deal and in return, the team was to be called Musli Power Churchill Brothers. And then, comes this unsavoury incident on a flight where his highest paid player, Odafe Okollie, allegedly molested an air-hostess. The entire team was off-loaded in Mumbai and a criminal case slapped on three players including Odafe by the Mumbai police.

Think of it, there couldn't have been a better advertisement for the aphrodisiac makers than this episode, however unsavoury. The sponsors, who are tearing their hair to substantiate the aphrodisiac properties of their product before the Kerala Food and Drug Administration (FDA), should have been overjoyed. But instead, Churchill is left panting, struggling to save this deal in the face of adverse publicity the incident has earned his team.

Kunnath Pharmaceuticals, the makers of Musli Power Xtra, have decided to conduct an independent, private investigation into the whole incident and left the fate of the deal with Churchill Brothers on its outcome. Rs 18-crore, only for a name, is quite a deal and Churchill is not one who'd let the manna slip out of his hands!

Son-rising

Quite a few sons from Goa's political class are waiting in the wings with truck-loads of aspirations to step into papa's or mama's boots. But unlike Vishwajeet who hasn't waited for Papa to hang his boots to break into the big league, all the others are still waiting. There are at least half a dozen of them that we know of and more are getting added to the list. And, if the grapevine is to be believed, their wait is worth waiting!

BMWs and Audis, Harley Davidsons and what have you to drive around with without ever having to earn a penny is indeed quite a treat. I would 'wait' for a lifetime. But some of these guys are just not happy with these 'tofas' from their daddies. 'Give me more' is what their asking.

There's this one politician's son who has grown so big for his boots that papa's struggling to cope with the demands. He's flying high up North in the fumes coming off from the Sinquerim-Calangute-Baga-Anjuna-Morjim belt and is now several feet above the ground. With one 'rising son' already the proud owner of papa's BMW, this guy now wants to own an 'aircraft' courtesy papa. Word is out that the father has given in and the son is actually negotiating with a few aviation experts and financial consultants the costs and wherewithalls of setting up a private air-taxi company! Should it happen, the BMW-owning Rising Son from the South could perhaps realise his dream of actually piloting a flight in the skies rather than on Goa's streets.

IN DRIVER'S SEAT: Despite all the murmurs our Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, seems to be in the driver's seat much like this picture in which he is flanked by the heavyweight Power Minister Aleixo Sequeira and Transport Minister Sudhin Dhavlikar. Kamat yesterday commissioned 46 such buses for schools under a Centrally-sponsored scheme.