Staying Alive

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath is ruling with a wafer-thin majority and so every MLA is invaluable in keeping his government going. And that might possibly explain why Govind Singh, the husband of Bahujan Samaj Party legislator Rambai Singh, has managed to evade arrest despite being implicated in a murder. Govind is on the run with the police ostensibly unable to catch him. But people are claiming that they saw him in the Assembly premises recently.

It is being alleged that Kamal Nath is preventing his arrest so that he can bank on Rambai’s support.

Starry Economics

The state of the economy is having curious effects on some BJP leaders who have started consulting astrologers as to what lies in store on the economic front. The stars are not predicting a revival in 2019 but apparently from January 25th next year, things might improve. These leaders are said to be getting ready listeners to these astrological findings among many businessmen. But there are not many takers for these theories within the BJP. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, for one, is not superstitious at all.

Rare Penning

The nature of his job demands that National Security Adviser Ajit Doval remain in the background. And it has been some time since we saw any of his writings in the media. But there is said to be a departure happening soon. A book written by a senior journalist that will be released this month apparently has a preface written by Doval. He agreed because the subject of the book dealt with RN Kao, the legendary former R&AW chief.

Missing in Campaign

Not just the Gandhi family, even Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh was missing in the Haryana election campaign. The Congress had submitted the names of 40 star campaigners in Haryana to the Election Commission and Singh’s name had been at the top of the list. But with him being absent, Modi was able to snatch issues like the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor for Sikh pilgrims and the stopping of Punjab’s waters to Pakistan. Meanwhile, BJP chief minsters like Yogi Adityanath were active in the Haryana campaign, making Singh’s absence all the
more noticeable.

Private Celebration

When Amit Shah turned one year older on October 22nd, it was a close-knit affair. The media was keen on getting footage of what he did during the day but Shah did not allow it. He wasn’t in Delhi and so there was no queue of party workers outside his home at 6 Krishnan Menon Marg. He had gone to Gujarat to be with his wife. A day earlier, he was offering prayers at a temple in Patna, where local party leaders organised some public service events to mark his birthday. Narendra Modi greeted Shah through a tweet on his birthday. All in all, a private celebration for a private person.

Polyglot Pol

Many don’t know that Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is gifted at learning languages and is also well versed in a large number of them. When he visited Chennai, he spoke in Tamil fluently without reading from any paper. After that, he visited Moscow and Tokyo and spoke in Russian and Japanese in the respective cities for 30 minutes.

Beyond Party Lines

While the relationship between the BJP and the opposition might not be too good, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seems to be keeping bridges open. He recently went on a trip abroad and one of the main members of the delegation was Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, an outspoken critic of the BJP. It is said that Birla got a chance to get acquainted with Tharoor and found him a welcome and engaging company. Since Tharoor had recently written a book, Why I Am a Hindu, Birla also discussed Hinduism with him.

On His Own in Assam

In the Assam National Register of Citizens issue, the Supreme Court had nominated Prateek Hajela as the chief administrator. But both the state BJP as well as the Central leadership are reportedly not happy with Hajela because he is not adequately consulting with the state government and the Central home ministry.

No Replacement

It was way back in July that former Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Viral Acharya put in his resignation but the Government is still to appoint a replacement. Acharya’s exit had followed Governor Urjit Patel deciding to leave much before his term ended. Both Patel and Acharya had been in the RBI when the Government moved on demonetisation. Their resignations embarrassed the Government, which is now looking for someone who will be firmly in line with its vision.

Roaming Governor

Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra is fast getting a label in the Jaipur power circuit as the roaming governor. And that is because he is said to be so fond of travel that he is always on a flight. In the last few months, Mishra has apparently flown 43 times. He came to Delhi thrice, to Prayagraj five times, to Udaipur twice and so on. On several occasions, he flew on small planes taken from the state government.

About The Author

Jayanta Ghosal

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