New Delhi: UP Minister of State Dinesh Pratap Singh has come under sharp criticism after a photo of his son shaking hands with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi went viral on social media Thursday. Singh, who hails from Raebareli, had publicly opposed Rahul’s visit to the city a day earlier by sitting on the road.
According to witnesses, Singh, who was in the Congress before he joined the BJP, even had a heated exchange with Rahul during a DISHA committee meeting there. However, once the meeting ended, his son Piyush Singh, a block chief, was seen shaking hands with the Congress MP while Singh himself smiled in the background.
Congress leaders in Raebareli mocked Singh, saying his son had a “fan moment” with Rahul Gandhi, while the minister was only staging a protest against the latter for show. Even BJP leaders did not come to Singh’s defence after his son’s picture went viral.
Singh did attempt damage control by urging the media not to publish the photo but it was already viral by then.
Singh had earlier contested polls unsuccessfully against both Rahul and Sonia Gandhi. In an apparent bid to reaffirm his loyalty to the BJP, he makes it a point to attack Rahul whenever he visits Raebareli.
Re-establishing the IAS might
The Centre affected a major administrative overhaul Saturday, appointing as many as 35 joint secretaries in key ministries. Officers of the IAS dominated the list, with 16 officers, or 45 percent, from the premier service being appointed as joint secretaries.
The trend comes as a relief to IAS officers, whose numbers at the level of joint secretary in the central government had dropped to just 33 percent last year. Since then, senior IAS officers have been encouraging their juniors to apply for central deputation if the service doesn’t want to be reduced to a state service.
However, the trend can only be reversed slowly since despite their informal efforts, officers from other services are now being considered for important positions in the Centre than ever before. In the most recent reshuffle too, officers from the relatively less prestigious civil services like the Central Secretariat Service, Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS), Indian Audit & Accounts Service (IA&AS), etc. have bagged important positions in the ministry of home, information & broadcasting and law, among many others.
Party poopers in Rajasthan
A workshop called in Jaipur Thursday to discuss preparations for the upcoming ‘Seva Pakhwada’ ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday saw Rajasthan BJP in-charge Radha Mohan Das Agrawal walking out midway, upset over poor participation. The Prime Minister turns 75 on 17 September.
According to sources, the BJP leader was upset that the turnout at the meeting was not up to the mark. MLAs, MPs, district chiefs, former candidates, and party office-bearers were supposed to attend it.
Officially, Agrawal maintained that he left because he had to go to another programme but sources said he was upset over attendance at the Jaipur workshop and mentioned issuing show-cause notices to all those who didn’t come. The workshop was organised to prepare for ‘Seva Pakhwada’, a fortnight of service activities starting on Modi’s birthday.
ECI’s media blitz
At a time when the Election Commission of India (ECI) has been facing backlash over ‘vote chori’ allegations levelled by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, it is relying on its own media consultants to counter the bad press.
Young media graduates, armed with a phone and wireless mics, have been recceing locations inside and outside the commission to shoot reels and videos for initiatives taken by the ECI in the past few months.
While the ECI’s Instagram handle was only about Bihar SIR updates and “fact-checks” till 1 September, the page has since seen “ECI Explains” videos on 28 initiatives the commission has taken in the last six months.
The media effort actually began last year, around the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. However, it has been rejuvenated now, with an in-house team editing videos for the ECI’s social media handles.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)