Win-win
Politics being known to throw up strange things, only the discerning can sift the corn from the chaff. Underneath the bitterness lurks an inside story that smacks of a cleverly veiled understanding. As expected the Assembly session erupted in tension with the treasury and the Opposition benches seemingly being at daggers drawn. BJP finally decided to stay away from the rest of the session after participating in it for a few hours on the maiden day. Interestingly, a group photograph was clicked involving all the MlAs and the Speaker before the session started, in a marked departure from the norm of such a photograph being clicked on the final day of the session. It seems that the saffron move was part of an understanding reached with the ruling party. The saffron MlAs said that they were boycotting the session as the State Government failed to clear stance on Gairsain being made the capital of the State. However, the inside story might be bafflingly different. There are reasons to suppose that both the sides had reached an understanding much before the session began which served their ends mutually. BJP MlAs would be spared the embarrassment of sitting through the session with a resolution to be tabled on the difficulty the people are facing on account of the Centre’s money recall drive. With the BJP staying away, the treasury bench would be able to bring such a resolution, glitch free, and at the same time, might take credit for convening a historic session which the Opposition chose to boycott following a token presence. Win –win for both sides.
Dhanpashus in desperation
Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi recalled the currency of `500 and `1000 the Babus who used to start their blessed days taking a sweet smell of the currency notes have been in deep trouble. However, undaunted, they are now busy thrashing out means to find an issue out of the mess they are in. They are frantically contacting the middlemen to have the now-invalid currencies converted into the valid ones. However, the recent death of a BJP leader’s brother in Rishikesh while he was allegedly going to convert the recalled currencies in assistance with a middleman on November 11 sent shock waves among the Dhan Pashus. Since then, they are in a denial mode, saying that they have no cash in the now- recalled currencies. However, they are leaving no stone unturned to convert currencies through some surreptitious means. Indeed, things are desperate for them as life, robbed of the smell of the piles of ill-gotten currencies, is not worth living.