GRAPEVINE
Tickled pink to be a minister!
After the end of Monsoon Session of Parliament, again rumours on Cabinet reshuffle has resurfaced. Grapevine is on the MPs staying back in Delhi after end of the Session. Along with reshuffle, rumours are abuzz on the formation of a new BJP team. Media, as well as political pundits, are working on extra time to Delhi’s routine tips. Some say – this time before Diwali or soon after Diwali. Some say before Winter Session. And the buzz is going on creating new-new stories. Grapevine also has it that the older lots in the Council of Ministers are in a tizzy, as it is tacit now that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will now tilt more towards accommodation young party MPs in his Council, given the current restlessness amongst the Gen Z. In the just-concluded Monsoon Session, journalists while exchanging greetings with the younger BJP MPs use to quip, “Ab To Is Baar Apka To Chance Banega “.
MEA petrified over embassy funding of media events
It is learnt through sources in the Ministry of External Affairs that a demarche has been issued to all foreign embassies that funding any events related to domestic politics will not be tolerated and that such funding violates several domestic laws. The genesis of this seems to have started with the funding of two news portals joint event in 2025 by the embassies of Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, and Ireland. On being intimated about the antecedents of the said news portals, grapevine has it the Norwegian and Belgian embassies has put the portal under investigation and ceased all funding. However, the Irish, Canadian, Dutch and Swiss embassies increased funding.
It has came to the attention of the MEA that such funding had been going on and subsequently a formal demarche has been issued that such funding violates India’s interpretation of the Vienna Convention.
Yogi to woo Laxmi before polls!
As there is a growing resentments within the public over the current students’ and Gen-Z led protests across the country, and when elections in nearing in the crucial Uttar Pradesh, grapevine has it that the bureaucracy in the State have been asked to study on the women and youth centric projects which could have grant of financial benefits similar to the ones in Madhya Pradesh, polls manifestos of Delhi, West Bengal which is believed to do wonders for the BJP. Uttar Pradesh Government is likely to woo Ladlis with Laxmi Yojna, etc. It was first started in Madhya Pradesh by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan Government to provide monthly sustenance to women and then clicked in Delhi and Bengal. Since UP is a crucial state in terms of a larger number of Lok Sabha MPs, party and bureaucracy sources said the State Government is considering a similar Yojana before the Vidhan Sabha elections. At this point, the Samajwadi Party-led opposition that altered the contours of the BJP in the 2024 General Election has cornered the Yogi Government.
