Delhi Confidential: Sticky Issue

Battle Ready

To make its MPs articulate and avoid goof-ups during debates in Parliament, the BJP parliamentary party office has started preparing and distributing newsletters with bullet points on various issues to its members. BJP parliamentary party office secretary Balasubrahmanyam Kamarsu has also got new photostat machines for the office so that copies can be made fast. Hoping that normalcy returns to Parliament and business takes place, the MPs have already been given booklets on the GST Bill, its relevance and the need to get it passed. They have also been given booklets on the Land Boundary Agreement, on which a discussion is expected.

Going Rural

With the government’s unexpected U-turn on the issue of the land acquisition Bill, many are wondering if the BJP, like the Congress, has finally realised the importance of the rural sector, given this was not the only instance of its climbdown on an issue pertaining to rural India. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s harsh criticism of MGNREGA and former Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari’s aggressive note trashing the scheme as well as his proposals to dilute it, the Rural Development Ministry in the past few months has quietly been taking a slew of initiatives to strengthen the scheme. The government has even given it a handsome budget allocation and taken steps to streamline fund-flow. Many are wondering if this has anything to do with the sensibilities of Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh, who was understood to have been unhappy with proposed watering down of key rural initiatives.

Remembering Kalam

French Ambassador Francois Richier paid his tributes to former President A P J Abdul Kalam, who passed away last week. Richier also retweeted the fact that the French government had conferred the highest civilian honour on Kalam. The former President had a strong relationship with French scientists in space research and nuclear science.

Pictures Perfect

Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit, who had been having difficult days because of the tense relations between his country and India, has been tweeting about the beautiful locales in Pakistan. While the two countries have had a difficult past in the past few days, New Delhi and Islamabad have been talking about the visa liberalisation between the two sides.