Aces for Bihar
As the battle for Bihar intensifies, BJP plans to take around two lakh people from the State to the BJP-ruled States “to impress them” with the progress there and return them in time “to impact” the polls. In a another strategic move, migrant voters from Bihar, would also be “helped” to reach the State well before the voting date, said a senior BJP leader “ We have many “more aces” in our pack,” said a senior leader.
Vyapam: Cong’ soul-searching
As the soul searching goes on in Congress on what went wrong in Madhya Pradesh civic polls despite a full throttle campaign against Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, the party hopes to make a difference in the State by promoting new faces in the organisational changes. It reconstitued the faction-ridden State unit by appointing 18 Vice Presidents, 40 general secretaries and 83 secretaries. In the committee headed by Rahul Gandhi’s favourite Arun Yadav, top leaders including Kamal Nath, Digvijay Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Suresh Pachouri and Satyavrat Chaturvedi have been accommodated as permanent Invitees.
Attention grabber
The sensational Sheena Bora murder case has not only caught the interest of the nation but also of the visiting dignitaries. During a visit here last week, Australian Defence Minister Kevin Andrews was also drawn to the massive coverage of the murder mystery and inquired the Indian officials about the sensational crime.
Not time to fictionalise
Author and diplomat Vikas Swaroop is having a tough time juggling between work at Foreign Office and passion for writing books. Ever since he took over as the new spokesperson for Ministry of External Affairs in April this year, writing novel has taken a back seat for the author of Q&A, Six Suspects, The Accidental Apprentice. “Where is the timeIJ” said Vikas when asked what new he is writing these days. As his fans wait for another book, they may be happy to note director Sriram Raghvan working on a film on his popular novel Accidental Apprentice with possibly Deepika Padukone in the lead role.
Security concern
The recent revamp of security to the judges of Supreme Court has not gone down well with security men of the Delhi Police. In a meeting with top brass of Delhi Police, Chief Justice of India Hl Dattu raised doubts that the present security posted inside and outside the courtrooms were pot-bellied and aged. After this, younger lot from the Delhi Police replaced their counterparts. The experienced lot is upset as Court duty is a much-sought posting for the ease of working and peace it offers as against the demanding duty in thanas.
Call them ‘martyrs’
The CRPF Directorate has asked all its formations across the country to use the term ‘martyr’ for every paramilitary personnel who is killed in action against enemy. The move to accord proper respect and honour to personnel Rsmartyred’ during operations comes after it was noticed that certain offices under the Force used words like killed, slain and died in internal communication and the paramilitary leadership felt that use of such words dishonoured the martyrs.
Two-month wait
Journalist may have to wait for a long time for any interaction with new Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi. Mehrishi turned down request from the journalists for a media interaction on the first day in office, saying he needs two months to study the affairs of new assignment. “After two months,” he quipped.
Aids jamboree
At a time when the Persons living with HIV (PlHIV) and AIDS patients are running from pillar to post to get the basic medical services, the decision of the cash-starved National Aids Control Organisation to hold a conference on Aids awareness in Goa last month for over 6,000 invitees has raised several eyebrows. Experts feel that the conference could have been held in the national Capital itself to avoid unnecessary expenditure.