Inside Track: Yadav weds Yadav

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Where is Rahul?

As with most of the Gandhi family trips overseas, no one is in a position to confirm conclusively the actual destination of Rahul Gandhi. One reportedly reliable report suggests that he is attending a Vipassana course in South Asia and is, therefore, incommunicado. Rahul seems to have been influenced by his sister Priyanka, who is a great believer in Vipassana, meditation and Buddhism. Despite the untimely vacation, Rahul is slated to be appointed party president in April. The differences with his mother are not over his anointment but whether all the members of the old guard who have served Sonia Gandhi loyally should be turfed out. A confrontation between the old guard and the new may not lead to a split in the party, but some state units with powerful local leaders might form regional parties. Haryana, Punjab and Tamil Nadu are some states where a regional revolt cannot be ruled out.

Too close for comfort

It was not just that Prime Minister Modi and UPA ally Sharad Pawar had lunch on Valentine’s Day in Pawar’s bastion, Baramati, that infuriated the Shiv Sena. It was the body language between the two men which showed their closeness. Modi ignored protocol which decrees that no one travels in the Prime Minister’s car. He insisted that the NCP leader sit with him. Pawar had prepared Modi’s favourite dishes puranpoli and shrikhand at his residence. After lunch, at a public rally, Modi told the audience that in the last 10 years he had called Pawar at least once a month for advice and guidance.

Incidentally, NCP members Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule and Praful Patel were prominent at a lunch last week hosted by Minister for Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Punjab’s Deputy Chief Minister Sukbhir Singh Badal. The lunch was for MPs, ministers and the media but only Rajiv Shukla from the Congress represented the UPA. Kaur had got the famous dhabha owner Sucha Singh of Amritsar to prepare the vegetarian delicacies of his home town, including chole kulcha and sarson ka saag. Singh even transported from Amritsar the water used in cooking.

Special favour for Cong PA

The Ministry of Urban Development served an eviction notice on the Congress party this week. The Congress was asked to vacate four government bungalows in Lutyens’ Delhi since it was allotted four acres of land on Rouse Avenue in 2010 to build a party office. Apart from 24 Akbar Road, the Congress headquarters, the other three premises are 26 Akbar Road, 5 Raisina Road and C-II/109, Chanakyapuri. While 26 Akbar Road houses the offices of the Mahila Congress and the Seva Dal and 5 Raisina Road is with the Youth Congress and the NSUI, the Chanakyapuri address is not an office but a private residence. It was allotted by the party to Vincent George, once a prominent personal assistant to Rajiv Gandhi and later to Sonia Gandhi. George disappeared from the scene after a CBI case was registered in 2001 for misusing his office and disproportionate assets. Nevertheless, George managed a joint secretary-level government quarter on the Congress’s quota.

Backroom boy

BJP national general secretary and RSS pracharak Ram Madhav is known as the BJP’s ambassador at large because of the role he played in preparations for Narendra Modi’s trips to the US and Australia. He was also instrumental in arranging a meeting between Modi and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in the US. Of late, Madhav was the key negotiator on behalf of his party for talks with the PDP to form a government in J&K. Madhav has to ensure that the BJP’s position on Article 370 and the contentious AFSPA was not diluted. He met Mehbooba Mufti several times and interacts regularly with PDP MLA Haseeb Drabu to work out a settlement.