Nora Chopra
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government may have got his cabinet’s approval to re-promulgate the land ordinance but does he know what is the on the president’s mind. Pranab Mukherjee is a rule-book president but he enjoys the option of returning the ordinance once with his comments. He is consulting a battery of lawyers on the issue. Sources close to the Rashtrapati said the president of India has no option but to sign it if it becomes a bill passed by Parliament because the latter is supreme. But in case, Parliament rejects it and the Government re-promulgates the ordinance, then he will have to consider other options.
Smriti works hard on Amethi
While BJP watchers and her colleagues are searching for the meaning of her exclusion from the national executive of the party, Smrit Irani is highly perturbed over her omission. She has been knocking at Amit Shah’s doors, but she has not been given an appointment so far. Irani may have failed to attract Shah’s attention but she is generating interest in other quarters. Delhi’s most prestigious Gymkhana Club is seriously thinking of giving her a membership in the most eminent category. The corridors of the elite club are rife with speculation that the union secretary in the road and transport ministry is eying for a higher and plum posting for himself. Meanwhile, Smriti Irani has been told by her political masters to concentrate on Amethi and if she manages to get elected from there, she would be rewarded with the chief ministership of Uttar Pradesh. It is because of this she is now putting all her energy and money on Amethi. She visits there on a fortnightly basis unlike her opponent Rahul Gandhi. Worried about his sagging image, his mother Sonia Gandhi recently visited Amethi and assured the people of her son’s constituency that he would soon be back with them. They need not worry.
Game of thrones in Congress media panel
Politics is on full display in the list of media panelists appointed by the Congress. While most of the names of such panelists are of those who were MPs before and still carry the prefixes “ex MPs” or “ex-Ministers” before their names, not all have such luxury. However, for Manish Tewari and Rajeev Shukla, both of whom were ministers in the UPA-2 bearing important portfolios, they had been rewarded with ministerships because of their extraordinary skills in communicating with the media and public. Manish had the powerful I&B ministry along with independent charge. He has been one of the most voracious defenders of the party but the selectors ensured that he remained a panelist and that there is no mention of his previous role as a minister. Similarly, Rajiv Shukla is being given the same unsavoury treatment by his party. Shukla is now to rub shoulders with Ajay Maken and his successor Randeep Surjewala, both his juniors from the Youth Congress. Stiff competition is pitting mentor against protégé. The most surprising was the dropping of the Rahul favourite Deepa Dasmunshi. But her replacement with Sharmishtha Mukherjee and even Sushmita Deb is a pleasant surprise. But the most pleasant induction is that of Tom Vaddakan who worked his way from a media watch coordinator to Secretary Media Department. Switching loyalties from V George to Pillai to Ambikai to Maken to Surjewala, Tom waited for 16 long years for this day to be picked up. He should thank his colleagues in the department and journalists who lobbied for his departure through his promotion. Khanna, the media coordinator, was seen distributing sweets to journalists. Whether it was a gesture borne out of happiness over his promotion or because of good riddance, only Khanna can tell.
Bihar Congress up in arms against Chudhury
All is not well in Bihar Congress. Revolt against the Bihar PCC chief Ashok Choudhury has reached such a fever pitch that the state party has split into two parts. One is the Choudhury faction and the other is the anti Choudhury faction, which incidentally has the majority of the leaders with it. Just a few days back, leaders from the anti Choudhury faction held a very successful dharna on the land issue in Patna, but Choudhury was not allowed to be there. On the other hand, when Choudhury took out a rally from Gaya to Patna on the same issue, no known Congress leader from the state participated in it. In Niyamatpur, they first garlanded Choudhury and said, “Hum inka swagat karte hain,” and then in the name of a bara swagat they threw eggs and tomatoes at his head. In Madyampur, the Bhumiyars beat him up as they alleged that he had a hand in the murder of a senior Bhumiyar leader and Congress MP Rajoshree. The Congress leaders are furious with him and his current mentor CP Joshi for bringing in. Complaints have also been lodged against him for organising the dance of the nartakis in the Congress headquarters at Sadaqat Ashram during Holi. The Bihar leaders have decided to reach Delhi and gherao the Congress headquarters at 24 Akbar Road on April 15 to demand the sacking of Ashok Choudhury and CP Joshi.
Waiting for Rahul Baba
Despite the brave face put on by the Congress leaders, they are all at wit’s end as far as the whereabouts of their vice president Rahul Gandhi is concerned. Ditto for the timing of his return. The questions the Congress leaders are faced with include whether upon his return, will Rahil accept the presidentship of the party. If the buzz in the Congress is to be believed then he left on a meditation trip to do Vipasana in his favourite place Yangon (Burma’s Capital, also known as Rangoon). He’s supposed to be clearing his mind over whether he should take over the presidentship of the party or not. He had no option but to do that as he had an altercation with his mother over his style of functioning and the opposition to his leadership amongst majority of Congress seniors is only growing by the day. The suspense within his party over the timing of his return has forced the party leadership to shift the dates of the Maha Kisan Rally thrice. Initially, he was expected back in the last week of March, so the rally dates were kept tentatively coinciding with his return. But then the date was deferred to 11 April, so the rally date was 12 April. Now the party expects to see him on April 19 and accordingly, the rally date has been fixed for April 19.
Another media baron on the brink
Why is a media baron feeling so insecure despite his company’s share rising more than three times of late? Could it be that he is worried about who bought the shares? Grapevine says that when the media baron entered into an agreement with a top business baron and gave him a part ownership, there was an agreement on touch points to be reached in case of failure of milestones more shares had to be given to the investor. This has also weakened considerably the media baron’s hold over his group. Now that the share price has shot up and the media group is burning cash, the media baron is in a precarious position. Watch out for some interesting developments.
‘Make in India’ stalled in tracks
The Prime Minister’s ambitious ease of doing business and ‘Make in India’ plans are caught in red tape. A case in point is the use and allocation of radio frequency for advanced equipments. As a result, India cannot manufacture premium cars and technology like radar-based automatic braking, lane detection system, etc. This is likely to stall the launch of the much touted dream gadget ‘Apple watch.’ The adverse attention that Modi Government might receive due to failure of Apple to launch the watch in India along with the global launch will not be sweet for the ruling BJP. (IPA)
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