Hilsa for Taslima
Exiled firebrand Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin’s love for Bengali cuisine, particularly fish, is well-known. Not only is she a preserver of old recipes of her mother’s generation, she confesses to being a compulsive connoisseur of Bengali delicacies—one of the reasons she finds the life of an exile rather difficult. Taslima’s absolute love for hilsa cooked in mustard sauce or greens brought her to the Press Club of India’s Ilish (hilsa)-Baul festival on Mahalaya.
Unfortunately, the journalist-friend who had advance-booked for her had ordered only a plate each of the special menu on offer. But Taslima demanded more and refused to budge without picking up four portions of the hilsa curry. But such was the rush—four top Finance Ministry bureaucrats, for instance, had ordered a dozen plates each, which had to be packed and delivered. The firebrand writer, true to her reputation, finally extracted what she wanted, causing much sweat to the PCI president. Well, the organisers had clearly not bargained for hilsa supplies becoming an agreeably thorny issue!
Nowhere Rane
The loud bluster with which Narayan Rane resigned from the Congress and threatened to cut the grand old party from its base in Maharashtra has ended in a whimper. Currently nowhere, he has been trying hard to get PM Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah to jointly inaugurate a medical college he was instrumental in building in his home district of Sindhudurg in the Konkan region of the state.
Shah is yet to give him an appointment, though all Rane’s hope of entering BJP with son Nitesh is pinned on the BJP chief. His original party, Shiv Sena, has threatened to pull the plug on the Fadnavis government if the Ranes are allowed entry into the BJP. If rumours are to be believed, Shah is not entirely reluctant, but the RSS is and so is Fadnavis. The latter has used his personal rapport with Sena chief to ensure Rane’s kept at an arm’s length. The reasons are not difficult to guess. The ex-Maharashtra CM of 90 days has always been a headache for all chief ministers.
Gandhi with Sondhi
What made frontline theoretical physicist Shivaji Sondhi host/chair the Princeton leg of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s series of interactions in the US? Can’t be for his concern for intolerance and unemployment back in India. Known for his markedly right-of-the-centre views on most issues, Prof Sondhi’s decision to anchor Rahul’s session surprised many. Son of former diplomat- scholar, the late M L Sondhi, a die-hard Jan Sanghi who had been a one-term BJP MP, his background does not quite fit with the Congress ethos.
However, if sources are to be believed, Shivaji’s still upset over the manner things panned out for his father during the Vajpayee tenure. As an ICSSR chairman, M L Sondhi had bitterly fallen out with then HRD minister M M Joshi. The son, it seems, has since maintained a distance from the BJP and his hosting of Rahul is a message of sorts to his father’s political alma mater. Meanwhile, the Congress plan of tapping the NRI community for funds did not meet with much success.
New Haryana brew?
There’s been much speculation for some time that former Congress CM of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda will float his own party. But what’s brewing now may be cause for trouble for not just the Congress but the BJP as well. Apparently, Hooda has buried his hatchet with his old bête noire Chaudhary Birender Singh and Rao Indrajit Singh. The two had left the Congress and joined the BJP to become ministers. However, they seem to be finding it difficult to adjust to the saffron culture and would not mind joining hands with Hooda.
On the wrong side
Bihar deputy CM Sushil Modi, it seems, has got into his party chief’s cross-hairs. After several complaints from BJP MLAs, Shah’s said to have ticked off this Modi for behaving more as Nitish Kumar’s deputy and less a BJP leader. While Kumar is working hard to implement his poll promises, he’s been lukewarm to the BJP’s agenda. Neither is Sushil Modi helping. Angry BJP MLAs apparently complained to Shah that the DCM is only interested in pursuing cases against RJD chief Lalu Prasad at Kumar’s behest.
Santwana Bhattacharya
The author is Political Editor, TNIE. Email: santwana@newindianexpress.com