Insider- out

Yediyurappa did not simply make it back to the CM’s chair by changing the letters of his name back to how it used to be (whether astrologynumerology will help him get real numbers is a moot point).
Insider- out

From HDK to BSY BS

Yediyurappa did not simply make it back to the CM’s chair by changing the letters of his name back to how it used to be (whether astrologynumerology will help him get real numbers is a moot point). What brought him back to the reckoning was also legal opinion. Could there be a legal hurdle to his candidacy? It was only after a clear ‘no’ to that question from former A-G Mukul Rohatgi, who’s representing the rebel MLAs in the Supreme Court, that he got a go-ahead from the BJP high command. It was around 9.30 in the morning that JP Nadda called him to give the news.

The Raj Bhavan, which too was kept waiting, hurriedly organised the swearing-in ceremony within hours. Well, the stars came into play there again as BSY was very particular about assuming charge on Friday. Now, the party of the CM he replaced may come in to ensure stability to the government for the time being, at least till the all-important finance Bill is passed on a priority basis. That, however, will not secure the fate of the Congress-JD(S) rebels.

All in Hindi

Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’s appointment as HRD Minister surprised many, but what has followed seems to have surprised the ministry much more. Pokhriyal was chosen, many felt, because of his dabbling in poetry. But that felicity in Hindi seems have to come in the way of the regular functioning of the ministry.

The Minister, it seems, will have nothing — from notes to anything else — in any other language except Hindi. Though most bureaucrats, by now, have reasonable ease with spoken Hindi, not everyone has the same competence when it comes to writing. Last heard, there’s much heartburn over this language imposition in Shastri Bhavan. Rajnath Singh too prefers to use Hindi in official communications. But a consensus-builder by nature, Singh never had a problem in either understanding or communicating in English.

Rise and fall of Garg

Subhash Chandra Garg’s stint as Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs and Finance, was as remarkable as his exit. He had become such a byword in this second edifice of the North Block that it was whispered that he thought of himself as synonymous with the FinMin. It was not exactly that Garg’s power rose as the former FM’s health grew weak. “Otherwise too he had a free hand,” they say. But in exercising that mandate, he rubbed just about everyone the wrong way, particularly the current and former RBI top brass.

However, it was the backlash against the idea of raising $10 billion via the sale of sovereign bonds in foreign currency that turned his biggest backers and the RSS against him. Though he issued a denial that his shift to Power Ministry — relatively lower in the bureaucratic pecking order — is anything but routine, and that he was contemplating VRS even earlier, no one really is buying it. Not when the sovereign sale proposal is likely to be on hold.

Two tilted the balance

The induction of former TDP members, particularly YS Chowdhary and CM Ramesh, into the BJP has proved to be the biggest coup for the treasury benches in the Rajya Sabha. The duo managed to rope in not only MPs from the leftover TDP and YSRC, but also TRS members, tilting the balance in favour of the NDA. Ramesh and Chowdhary went from member to member, convincing them to support the government’s amendment to the RTI Act, helping the treasury to beat the Congressled opposition in the Upper House for the first time. Apparently, Chowdhary and Ramesh have again been put to work to get the Triple Talaq Bill passed.

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