Rahul and other sonrises
The stage is being set for Rahul Gandhi’s unanimous ‘election’ as the president of INC by orchestrating a positive ‘crescendo’. If the Congress VP was looking for a contest, it’s not happening. No one is ready to give a contest even for form’s sake. Jitin Prasada, whose father Jitendra Parasda had once contested against Sonia Gandhi, panicked at the suggestion.
Manish Tewari, the articulate former I&B Minister known to have a mind of his own, would rather write books and critical columns against the government of the day. In short, there are no challengers to Rahul. Those who love to pop his sister as an alternative can wait till kingdom come. She may agree to take up campaigning duties once brother is on the saddle.
Meanwhile, taking a cue from the Congress coronation, RJD chief is likely to pass the baton to his younger son Tejaswi Yadav and LJP chief and Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan to his son Chirag Paswan. Well, “this is how India works’’!
Khakra meet
Rumours were floating thick and fast a day before the GST council meeting. That was when the Prime Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah met FM Arun Jaitley in a closed-door session. Jaitley had skipped the World Economic Forum’s India chapter session and then met a group of ministers, known to be close to him.
The frenzied media was almost ready with the name of a new FM, till a Jaitley aide rubbished the speculation as the mischief of a former Congress minister. It seems Modi, Shah and Jaitley have once-a-month pow-wows, and on this particular occasion Shah came rushing back from Kerala to give his political inputs.
Yogi’s health concern
Talking of build-up, UP CM Yogi Adityanath is having the most of it. Not entirely to his advantage though. Amit Shah had roped him in for the BJP padayatra in Kerala, but had not bargained for things to get sidetracked. The focus of the BJP protest march was the political killings in Kannur, Kerala CM’s home turf.
But it got deflected once Yogi got into comparing Kerala and UP, particularly on the healthcare situation. Since Kerala is one of the best states and UP one of the worst in terms of social sector indices, it only gave Pinarayi Vijayan an opportunity to showcase his state. BJP insiders claim ‘Yogiji’ was wrongly briefed to raise the healthcare issue. But overall Yogi managed to catch eyeballs and probably helped galvanize the cadre.
Goyal Upset
With the Indian Railways getting more than a fair share of bad press, given the tragic stampede in Mumbai and the train derailments, the new Railway Minister, Piyush Goyal, is keeping a close watch on slated reports. He’s said to have ticked off the news agencies for plying unnecessary negative news to paint the Indian Railways in a bad light.
Rebel @ 80
Yashwant Sinha was certainly the show-stopper at the launch of Manish Tewari’s book Tidings of Troubled Times. Little doubt who among the unusual trio—author Tewari, Sinha and Kejriwal—the overflowing audience at the IIC hall had come to hear. Sinha did not disappoint, though it seems he got a call asking him to opt out of the programme just before he arrived.
The former FM, who has been hogging the limelight ever since he took on the Government on its economic policies, made it plain that he was beyond caring. As for his job application to head the BRICS bank, Sinha, at his biting best, claimed it was too ‘tucha’ (‘petty’ in colloquial Hindi) a post for him to have ever considered! Had it been the UN Secretary General’s post or the top jobs at the World Bank or IMF, it would have been worth the stature. There’s another role that he did not mention, and which many feel he could be exploring—of becoming, the alternative political pole.
Santwana Bhattacharya
The author is Political Editor, TNIE.
Email: santwana@newindianexpress.com