Googly from Sidhu
Contrary to his reputation as a sawed-off shotgun speaker, Navjot Sidhu’s political skills seem sharp enough to merit a rechristening as ‘Navtej Singh’. He has successfully played the Congress and AAP against each other to have his way. Reports of the Congress offering him deputy CMship and the Amritsar seat—though Captain denies anything concrete was offered—has had its desired effect. AAP bossman Arvind Kejriwal had to break his silence to clarify that the former Indian cricketer is very much on his party’s radar and the delay in solemnising the entry is because he’s still thinking what role can assigned to Sidhu. The problem seems to be the double ticket Sidhu wants, one for himself and one for his wife. Kejriwal is ready to give a meaty non-political role to Sidhu’s wife if AAP wins the polls. As for Sidhu, the AAP chief would rather bring him back to the Rajya Sabha along with his other trusted aide, Ashutosh, than create a situation in Punjab where the Badal family is replaced by the Sidhu family!
Facebook Protest
Facebook is proving to be a rather potent tool. Anandiben Patel announced her resignation as Gujarat CM on FB, and now a retired IAS officer, Veena Rao, has put out a counter to a CBI chargesheet against her in the Antrix-Devas ‘scam’. In a long FB post, she termed CBl’s move ‘’shocking’’ and ‘’ludicrous’’. It seems her name cropped up as she was additional secretary in the Department of Space when the deal was inked. But, the former bureaucrat points out, the Antrix-Devas contract was approved at the Antrix board meeting in Dec 2004, where she was not even present. And, this was within a mere two days of her taking charge—too short a time for her to have taken a call on it. Challenging the authenticity of some of the documents shown to her during her questioning, Rao has even put out her email exchanges with the investigation agency.
Sangh Backing
Old-style foreign policy wonks may be uncomfortable with the sudden aggressive stance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Pakistan, raking up human rights issues on Balochistan, with Gilgit and PoK thrown in for good measure. But the RSS top brass is happy. Whatever misgivings they may have had over the PM’s first gaurakshak statement (toned down next day) has been put behind. VHP’s Praveen Togadia was allowed to vent his anger for a limited reason: to ensure he has his say and the pressure cooker does not blow up closer to the UP polls.
J&K: PM, CM on Same Page
Whatever Mehbooba Mufti may be saying in Srinagar, there is little doubt the state and Central governments are on the same page. Both think the situation is the outcome of a conspiracy and it’s better to allow it to dissipate on its own. The latest deadline by which, they feel, the anger in the Valley will subside is mid-September. One of the reasons why both the administrations feel normalcy through control can be restored is because neither Srinagar nor Anantnag, the two populated parts of the Valley, have remained relatively calm.
Girl Power
After P V Sindhu won her silver in Rio, one of the suggestions that came on Twitter was: it’s time the Prime Minister’s ‘Save the girl child’ campaign slogan be reworded... as ‘Saved by the girl child’! What’s surprising is, it came from the BJP’s Sudhansu Mittal, not any opposition neta.