New Delhi: Barely 10 weeks since former student leader Rekha Gupta assumed charge as Delhi’s chief minister, there are talks about her differences with Education Minister Ashish Sood—a confidante of outgoing BJP president J.P. Nadda—who was also in the race for the CM’s post.
At the convocation ceremony of a university earlier this month, Gupta recounted an incident from her days at Delhi University, where Sood was her senior.
“Ashish Sood ji was also my senior with me, but I sat in the first vehicle I got. He was waiting. He thought that I would go only if I got a bigger vehicle. I said no, I will go even in a small rickshaw. So, I became a councillor first, contested the MLA election first, and my number came early for becoming the chief minister too,” Gupta said.
Sood was on stage when she said this. Gupta then went on to praise Sood for his keen interest in education, but tongues haven’t stopped wagging since then. Her constant comments about school fee hikes and other education-related matters may not be very pleasing to the education minister’s ears.
Government plays for time to avoid Waqf bill setback
The Supreme Court’s 8 April judgment giving the President three months to decide on bills referred by governors, has come as a blow for the Union government. Within sections of the BJP, it is being seen as judicial overreach.
With Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna going to retire in two weeks, and the SC hinting at the possibility of staying some provisions of the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Act, strategy makers of the government huddled together and devised a three-pronged strategy to save it from another embarrassment, ThePrint has learnt.
According to sources in the BJP, the first was to convince the court to give it more time to file a response to its concerns so that the government could find a more convincing argument in support of the law. So, it promptly assured the court that it will not move forward with the implementation of key provisions to prevent a stay.
In another strategy, it is pushing some Muslim organisations, particularly the RSS-backed Muslim Rashtriya Manch, to file petitions in support of the law to counter the hundreds of petitions that have been filed by those in opposition.
Then, it was felt that the argument on the first day, with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta representing the government side, was not strong enough to counter legal heavyweights Kabil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi on the other side. Therefore, the government is looking into fielding senior advocates, from Mukul Rohatgi to Harish Salve, to bolster its side during the arguments in the coming days.
Before the hearings, Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju was in constant touch with senior lawyers of the government’s side and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and the discussions on strategy took place in the evening of 16 April, after first day of hearing, and in the morning before the hearing at 2 pm on the second day. The government strategy worked, with the court allowing it time till 5 May to file a reply, giving it breathing room to find a way out. It also delays the process ahead of CJI Khanna’s retirement on 13 May.
There is concern in the BJP that if the law is struck down or diluted, it will be a loss of face for the government, and the Opposition will get an opportunity to celebrate. Moreover, this perceived victory of the Muslim community, the party believes, will be felt in Bihar, where assembly elections are due within six months. The impact will also be felt among BJP’s Hindutva constituency.
Jaat the movie, big opportunity
In a bid to impress their supporters, Jat leaders in western Uttar Pradesh are in a race to arrange tickets for the 2025 Sunny Deol starrer, Jaat. With the main protagonist of the movie being a proud Jat, political leaders have an opportunity to milk the sentiment.
In that process, RLD supporters, seeing it as an opportunity to watch a movie with their ‘Jat bhais’, are enjoying a double lottery by taking tickets from both BJP leader Sanjiv Balliyan and Samajwadi Party MP Harendra Mallik. A local RLD leader said, “Hamari chandi dono taraf hai.”
However, the leader says, RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary has missed out. The local RLD leader said Chaudhary should also have understood the local sentiment and arranged for passes, but he missed the opportunity.
Ajit Pawar’s ‘all is well’ play
There have been so many instances of rifts and conflicts between the three leaders of Maharashtra’s Mahayuti that any minor indication of discord these days sets off talks about whether all is well between Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde.
The most recent such incident was at the Ambedkar Jayanti celebration, where, while CM Fadnavis and the governor addressed the gathering, deputy CMs Shinde and Pawar didn’t get a chance. The official reason was that there wasn’t enough time.
But, when reporters asked Pawar about it, he said that the two deputy CMs had decided to address every function moving forward, even if just for a couple of minutes. He cheekily added that this decision was not to satisfy the egos of the two leaders, but to satisfy the media, which seemed to be more concerned about their well-being in the alliance.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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