The BJP likes to plan all events well in advance. The schedule for these programmes is sent to the concerned office bearers and party leaders. An interesting date doing the rounds is 27 May 2024. Why? It is said that the 2024 Lok Sabha election results would be out by this date. What’s left after elections after all: They just need to plan the oath-taking ceremony. Get it?
Not even a peek
The Modi government and the BJP take every major decision in a very secretive manner. No one can know about it before the party’s official announcement. But how they are able to keep such secrets is no longer a secret. Whenever there is a big decision being made within the party or the government, and when concerned officials are called for a meeting, PAs and all the other staff is kept out of the room. Even tea is served either before the meeting or after it. Is that how they maintain secrecy?
Keep away from dhokla
These days when cabinet ministers serve breakfast to their visitors, they don’t offer dhokla. It’s strange because the Gujarati dish used to be a mandatory item on the menu. How did the dhokla disappear? It could be so because of a possible cabinet reshuffle. Most of the ministers who were discharged during the last reshuffle used to brag about how they serve dhokla for breakfast.
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Digital difficulties
What’s saral (simple) is very difficult. This isn’t about the income tax form but an application of the BJP, which is tedious to use. That’s what a BJP MP says. All the MPs of the party are informed about their schedules through Saral — their deputation, travels, schedule, who they have to meet and how long the event is going to be. Everything is notified by the app. Saral also does real-time monitoring. The MPs have to log in every day to finalise their routine. And that’s where the problem arises. After receiving their timetable from the Saral app, the party members have to feed the details in the NaMo app. And if there is an error or any kind of manipulation in the data entry, the app starts beeping. That’s how tiresome the Saral app is.
Hoping for comeback
Suspended Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh is expected to make a comeback in the party. Sources say that the BJP is going to end his suspension. This news has given Nupur Sharma high hopes. Why? Raja was suspended and Sharma was expelled. The party can still make use of them during elections. If one returns, the path for the other one is also clear.
Move to the South
Here’s an essay on the suffering of Congress leaders of north India. There was a time when only the people of north India were calling the shots in the party — Jawaharlal Nehru to Sonia Gandhi. Now president Mallikarjun Kharge, and general secretaries and head of publicity and media wing Jairam Ramesh are all from south India. Even Rahul Gandhi has gone to Wayanad, Kerala. So where do the leaders from the north fit in now? At present, there are no posts to fill. The party members have been told to focus on the south because that’s where the rewards of party worship can be found. For the upcoming elections, the north Indian members are knocking on the doors of the south to find a place there. And in north India, party members from the northeast are flocking in, hoping there might be space for them.
Talk of UPA-3
According to reports, Sonia Gandhi has told Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that she doesn’t want to continue as United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson. She is known to have said that she is going abroad for a health check-up and it would be better if another non-BJP leader steps in. If this happens, then we are looking at UPA-3. Can Nitish Kumar become the new president? West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has suggested that Gandhi continue as the president and Kumar can be made the convenor. But Mamata and Sharad Pawar’s name is also doing the rounds for the convenor of UPA-3. This post was held by Ahmed Patel in the past.
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Brij Bhushan’s popularity
A politician in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda holds tremendous clout. He is Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. At a rally, he declared that he will fight the election from Kaiserganj. He said it three times so that nobody is in doubt. While giving his speech at the rally, Brij Bhushan name-dropped PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and UP CM Yogi Adityanath several times. What’s puzzling is why did Brij Bhushan have to mention the UP CM?
Love troubles in UP bureaucracy
The bureaucracy of Uttar Pradesh is ripe with love stories. And IAS officers keep taking jibes on them. Normally, these love stories don’t clash with each other. But this one is about a senior IAS officer falling in love with his junior’s life partner. When the senior officer kept visiting the junior’s house even after they had different postings, the latter figured. Reportedly, he expressed his pain in a letter to the head of state. Before this, an IAS officer had refused to recognise his wife before his girlfriend. Eventually, his IAS father-in-law had to share his concerns with the media.
Bharat Agrawal is Executive Director, Dainik Bhaskar Group, and a columnist.
By special arrangement with Dainik Bhaskar, edited by Ratan Priya.