A seat for MMS Firebrand Vaiko is expected to be in the Rajya Sabha soon, thanks to the DMK. Of the two seats the DMK is set to pick up, M K Stalin has accommodated Vaiko in one. Not because Vaiko is somehow an ally more equal than other allies like the Congress, but because there was a pre-Lok Sabha poll understanding. DMK leaders in the know were quite unabashed in admitting that if the Congress had got into a pre-poll pact about this too, the favour would have been extended to the grand old party.
But the fact was, one of them quipped, the Congress top brass was too busy to plan ahead or think about the need to organise a seat for former PM Manmohan Singh. Now, of course, MMS may be brought in from Rajasthan. A seat from the state has fallen vacant after the sudden demise of Madan Lal Saini. MMS’s current headache, though, has less to do with the RS seat, and everything to do with the Modi Government’s decision to drastically cut his staff strength, 14 to 5, going by the rule book. His repeated pleas to the PM and Home Minister Amit Shah have been of little avail.
Nadda gets homework J P Nadda, presently designated as the working president of the BJP, is likely to graduate to being a full-fledged president by the end of this year. Meanwhile, Nadda is indeed a ‘working’ president. Working hard, at the behest of the ‘real’ party chief. Amit Shah, it seems, has drawn up a 120-day schedule for his understudy. Unlike the talk doing the rounds, Shah’s priority is not exactly the coming Assembly elections of Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra — well, he thinks the BJP faces little challenge in these states — but the grassroots membership drive. Apparently, the focus is on constituencies where the BJP lost or had a low voteshare in the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattiagarh. And in all states, the drive is to get local block-level celebrities, people with any following in social media, who can influence opinions, into the saffron fold.
House for elders Sushma Swaraj has vacated her Lutyens bungalow and moved to a South Delhi address. Uma Bharati is also set to follow suit. However, two BJP veterans — L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi — will neither vacate nor will be asked to vacate their respective bungalows at Prithviraj Road and Raisina Road. Advani and Joshi are both covered by Z-plus security, and therefore will be given at least one year’s extension. The reason being cited is ‘security concern’.
Judges’ retirement age The CJI’s proposal to the PM of raising the retirement age of high court judges to 65 and offering tenured appointment to retired judges, including those of the HC, under Article 128 and Article 224A, to clear pendency of cases, is unlikely to be acted upon. It seems the higher echelons of government are missing Arun Jaitley’s expertise in formulating an appropriate response to the CJI’s idea. Meanwhile, Delhi is abuzz with talk that Tushar Mehta is likely to be appointed as the Attorney General of India. Mehta’s proximity to Amit Shah is well-known.