Bane of Tribune
The front-page apology for a two-year-old drug syndicate story against former Akali Dal minister Bikram Singh Majithia in The Tribune has sent the rumour mill on an overdrive. Why the trust-run newspaper, which has editions all over Punjab and is considered a pioneer in the state, came under pressure is not known. Majithia is not just Union Minister Harsimran Kaur’s brother, but is also related to Amrinder Singh’s daughter. There is, of course, a court case against the newspaper. All this is not stopping the Congress from crying foul.
Manifesto in the making
The Congress Gujarat manifesto, expected to come out this month, is taking some doing. The reason is, the party’s crack team working on the manifesto—Pitroda, Solanki, Gohil, Modvadia, Mistry and Patel—is having a hard time merging the demands of the three Young Turks the Congress has befriended. Each of them, Aplesh Thakor, Jignesh Mevani and Hardik Patel, have separate demands on quota for their respective communities. Added to that is Rahul’s wish-list—the issues of prohibition, unemployment, demonetisation, GST, unemployment, all of which he wants addressed. It’s like writing a tricky thesis while walking on a tightrope, is how one of them described the situation.
Sitharaman’s media sojourn
Being India’s first woman defence minister has its pros and cons. Nirmala Sitharaman is flooded with requests for interviews. This has been compounded by the fact that, as a former BJP spokesperson and a rather articulate, sharp one at that, she has a wide friends’ circle in the media, all wanting to feature her in her new role. As a way out, the Ministry called a group of hard-boiled defence correspondents for an informal chat.
It was to be an off-the-record session, since Sitharaman was keen to avoid making headlines. But before it got over, the Ministry’s PR machinery tweeted the photo of the interaction, putting those who attended in a fix. That the minister has promised to meet them once a month is the saving grace. Her immediate predecessors, Arun Jaitley or Manohar Parrikar, were not exactly inaccessible, but they never got round to structured interactions specific to defence. As for the UPA’s A.K. Antony, if meeting him was not easy, getting him to offer a cupp’a tea was even more difficult.
Wintry session
The argumentative Indian has taken to social media like fish to water — hyperventilating being anyway a favourite pastime. Even before the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs had met, there was ‘breaking news’ that the government has decided not to call the Winter session so as to focus on the Gujarat elections, , and a fierce debate followed on what it means for democracy.
It’s true that the PM is the main star campaigner in his home state, and it would be rather tough for Amit Shah too to give much attention to his debut session in Rajya Sabha, when such a crucial poll is on. But the government, it seems, is only weighing option of curtailing the session. A single state election coming in the way of a Parliament session is not a usual occurrence, and calling off a whole session for that would be quite an event.
Divided over Indira
The Congress, meanwhile, is a bit sore that President Ram Nath Kovind skipped the customary visit to Shaktisthal on the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. From the Government end, there was a tweet from the PM. Former President Pranab Mukherjee, however, made it a point not to miss paying respect to his mentor, assassinated by her Sikh guards in 1984.
Santwana Bhattacharya
The author is Political Editor, TNIE.
Email: santwana@newindianexpress.com