Real boss
At the height of the NDA crisis in Bihar, a Cabinet Minister belonging to the BJP was spotted in Gujarat. A known supporter of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, the Minister is also learnt to have briefed the Gujarat CM about the political development in his State. He was not the only leader from Bihar to have paid visit to Modi in recent time. Two senior BJP office-bearers (from Bihar) also met the Gujarat CM recently and shared with him their assessment about the electoral fallout of NDA split. Perhaps they know who the boss is!
Jinxed vacation
BJP leader Arun Jaitley’s annual vacation and crisis in the party go hand in hand. This year just when Jaitley went abroad, his “close friend” Nitish Kumar played the spoilsport for the BJP. Grapevine has it that the senior BJP leader remained glued to his cellphone and made frantic calls back in India to defuse the crisis. The next time when he plans his annual vacation, Jaitley would perhaps need services of an astrologer more than that of a travel consultant.
Swamy’s forays
Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Saturday morning broke the news of the list of Indians who hold foreign bank accounts in tax havens. Swamy, who is currently in the US, came to know the news on Friday evening. Without wasting any time, he started searching the names of Indians account holders and promptly provided a dedicated link in his Twitter account for his followers to do research. Swamy also reportedly went to the office of International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in Washington and specifically sought details of his sworn “enemies” in India. A certain account holder belonged to Chennai’s Pycroft Garden Road, which is the residence of a powerful UPA Minister from Tamil Nadu.
Security mania
With Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi frequently holding meetings with State leaders at AICC headquarters, both journos and party leaders are facing a lot of problems. Often Congress’ scheduled briefings are cancelled at the last moment on the plea that Rahul is holding meeting at 24 Akbar Road so the SPG won’t allow entry of media. Similarly, the SPG prevents party workers from meeting leaders. The mediapersons have even complained to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, but nothing has changed. It is a different matter that the same SPG allowed journos and party workers to enter 24 Akbar Road despite Rahul and Sonia’s presence when the Congress held condolence meeting for leaders killed in Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh.
Misreporting
Former CBI Director AP Singh is tired of clarifying he did not attend any meeting chaired last week by Union Home Secretary to defuse the crisis over possible arrest of a IB official by the CBI in the alleged fake Ishrat Jahan encounter case. Singh had an appointment with the Union Home Secretary at 3.30 pm on Thursday, and it just happened that present CBI chief Ranjit Sinha and IB Director Syed Asif Ibrahim dropped in at the same time. Next day, a section of the media reported that Singh attended the meeting to give his advice to defuse the crisis.