Page 3's CBI worries

For a change Page 3 celebrities at a party on Wednesday night in a leading five star hotel in Mumbai were not discussing the latest fashion trends, imported car models or the availability of luxury apartments. The conversation this time was more serious and low-voiced and it was all about expressing solidarity with Aditya Birla Group chief Kumar Mangalam Birla. The industrialist has been named in a first information report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over irregularities in coal block allocations. There was, of course, an element of self-interest involved in all the natter. Their worry: if someone as wealthy and powerful as Birla can't escape CBI action, what would happen to others. An informal "resolution" was adopted to follow a tit-for-tat policy and desist from donating to political parties when they come seeking money for election expenses.