A little known aspect of the removal of loudspeakers from places of worship in Uttar Pradesh that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had also got the loudspeakers installed at Gorakhpur Math taken down. Islamic scholar Mahmood Madani, president of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, had insisted during his interview with a TV channel that the CM’s decision on loudspeakers was a good one provided it was implemented without discrimination.
Pain of outsourcing
Outsourcing is the biggest source of tension during the Rajya Sabha elections. In some places, there has been outsourcing of candidates, and at others of legislators. For example, Haryana Congress dispatched its MLAs to Raipur, Chhattisgarh, along with the candidates. But there are uncertainties related to this. What happens if an ‘outsourced’ independent candidate, while filling the nomination form, declares in their affidavit that they are facing a court case related to check bounce? Obviously, the MLAs supporting that candidate will be a little disheartened, because the fear is that then their check can bounce.
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Who is next?
The BJP camp is keenly searching for the fifth one — a post currently vacant in the party organisation, which no one is ready to take. Actually, this vacancy is in the Margdarshak Mandal. When the Margdarshak Mandal was first constituted in 2014, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Narendra Modi and Rajnath Singh were its members. There has been a vacancy since Vajpayee’s demise. Still there is no claimant for it. Now, the buzz is that after the national executive meeting of BJP in Hyderabad, another name can be added to the list of Margdarshak Mandal members. Those in the know have also thrown some hints — did you get it? After Hyderabad. Hmm… Let’s see.
A saffronised ‘Saubhagya Nagar’
By the way, the matter is not completely Hyderabadi either. In fact, eight hoardings will be put up in the premises of a hotel in Hyderabad, where the BJP’s national executive meeting is scheduled to take place. And it will bear an inscription – Saubhagya Nagar karykarani mein aane wale sabhi mahanubhavo ka swagat hai… (Welcome to everyone attending the Saubhagya Nagar executive). The idea behind this theme is that the BJP has always been in favour of referring to Hyderabad as Saubhagya Nagar. The lighting arrangements in this hotel are being set up in such a way that during the evening, the entire hotel could be seen gleaming in saffron light.
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Arrange a seat in Rajya Sabha please
What benefits did actor Mithun Chakraborty accrue after supporting the BJP during the West Bengal assembly election? This question is being raised by some of his supporters in the West Bengal BJP. But the party leadership is also asking a question as to what did the BJP gain in West Bengal out of Mithun’s backing? Now it is being said that Mithun’s supporters want the government to nominate him to the Rajya Sabha.
BJP countering horse trading
In the Rajya Sabha elections, there is always a danger that the opposition party might hijack the MLAs. As such, parties keep their MLAs herded inside posh hotels or swanky resorts. The BJP has been adopting the same tactics. But this time, to counter the fears of its MLAs being waylaid, the party has decided to keep them in a training camp instead of any hotel or resort. The MLAs will be allowed to leave only on the day of voting — 10 June. The problem before the MLAs is that instead of enjoying a comfortable stay in a resort, they will have to go through the tough ordeal of the training camp.
The empanelment begins
The process for empanelment of 1991 batch IAS officers for secretary-level appointments has started. Vigilance clearance is being sought from the states and Centre too.
Bharat Agrawal is Executive Director, Dainik Bhaskar Group, and a columnist.
By special arrangement with Dainik Bhaskar and translated by Ram Lal Khanna from the original in Hindi.