Jairam Ramesh, Thaawarchand Gehlot and Ashwini Choubey are making a lot of progress inside the Parliament House. But the growth of R.K. Singh seems to be stunted. Puzzled? Actually, these are the names of the trees which were planted by these politicians. The tiny plants with their names in nameplates have transformed into fully grown trees. The tree named R.K. Singh has become slightly pale. It remains to be seen which of these trees will provide how much shade and which one bears fruits.
A maze before and after
The ongoing construction work in the Parliament complex has turned it into a labyrinth. Many departments have shifted from one place to another. An MP from Bihar was visiting Parliament recently. His driver dropped him at the gate and went towards the parking lot. The MP tried to reach his department but got lost in the way. After a lot of difficulty, he reached the main premises of the building instead of the intended department. The MP was left exasperated and exhausted. He eventually reached the department with the help of a journalist.
Dreams of Yashwant Sinha
The ballots have been cast in the presidential election. The question now is, will Yashwant Sinha’s political innings come to an end on 21 July? After all, NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu’s bumper victory seems to be a certainty. But Sinha is no less smart. TMC sources are saying that after losing the presidential election, Sinha will once again join one of the political parties. Now it is being speculated that this time he has made a sure-shot arrangement to join a regional party in South India and secure a seat for himself in the Rajya Sabha.
Anyone except one of yours
Indian media had no inkling that Jagdeep Dhankar would be named the NDA’s vice presidential candidate. Even the NDA allies learnt about this only when the BJP president announced Dhankar’s candidature. However, it was already conveyed to the JD(U) that no one from the party will be nominated for this post. JD9U) was told that the candidate could be from the BJP or an ally party. In any case, JD(U) has done what it was supposed to do being an ally in the NDA. The party doesn’t have any tension now about its duties or role as an ally partner.
Also read: ‘Injustice’ in Telangana — it pays more to tear political posters down than to repair them
At media’s gate
Congress’s newly anointed media in-charge Jairam Ramesh is very keen to try something new these days. To ensure this, he crafted a strategy to visit several media houses. He reached the office of a channel along with Pawan Khera and a large number of retinues. But it turned out to be the channel whose owner had just won a Rajya Sabha seat from Haryana by defeating a Congress candidate. The Congress team had gone there to introduce its new management team, but the channel owner — the newly minted Rajya Sabha MP — did not even come out of his cabin. This way Ramesh’s new gambit boomeranged. The old team that looked after the media work of the party couldn’t be more pleased.
Another name change
There are murmurs that the central government is considering to change the name of Mughal Garden inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan to Vivekananda Garden.
The Yadav card
It is believed that late Chaudhary Harimohan Singh Yadav had played a significant role in promoting the career of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the 10th death anniversary programme of Harimohan Singh, who was the president of Akhil Bharatvarsh Yadav Mahasabha for 15 years. Interestingly, the Mahasabha was established in 1924 in Nagpur. It had a good organisational spread all over the country, especially in southern India. The Yadav community has a large population in about a dozen states of the country. Now, if Modi attends the function, a big political message will go out on 25 July.
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.