Delhi confidential: About himself

Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee chief Bhupesh Baghel will undertake a ‘Motorcycle Yatra’ through the Maoist belt of Bastar next month. On Friday, he and other state Congress leaders met Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. As part of Rahul’s tribal-Dalit outreach, the Chhattisgarh Congress is planning a trip for him through the forested area of the state. Rahul is expected to take up dilution of the Forest Rights Act during the trip. While the state Congress wants it to take place mid-November, the central leadership is uncertain about the dates as Rahul is likely to be busy with the winter session of Parliament next month.

Post-strikes

While the Parliamentary Committee on Defence was Friday briefed on the surgical strikes after some initial reluctance, the subject is also listed at a meeting of the panel on External Affairs on October 18. The panel on Defence is headed by BJP’s B C Khanduri, while the other one is headed by Shashi Tharoor. The foreign secretary, home secretary, defence secretary and DGMO will brief the panel on External Affairs on the “Indo-Pak relations with specific reference to surgical strikes across the LoC”. A Rajya Sabha panel on Home Affairs also discussed ways to augment border security on Friday.

Marching Forward

A fortnight after four state chiefs of the JD(U) were suspended for questioning the nomination of Nitish Kumar as party president, the Bihar Chief Minister is set to get the endorsement of the party’s new national council and national executive at a party convention in the state. Notwithstanding the dissenting murmurs, the new bodies will meet on Monday in Rajgir, Bihar and approve the April election, when Kumar had replaced Sharad Yadav as party president.