Pre-Truth — snappy, witty and significant snippets from the world of politics and government.
Where is the money? BJP grassroots leaders, workers wonder
The BJP is the richest party in the country today — with a declared income of Rs 4,276 crore between 2013 and 2018 as compared to the Congress’ Rs 1,877 crore in the same period — but party leaders and workers on the ground are finding it difficult to organise events due to a lack of funds.
For instance, many BJP leaders who contested the Karnataka assembly elections last year are yet to get the promised party funds, despite repeated reminders to the state and central leadership.
A middle-rung BJP leader from Bihar was heard lamenting the other day that he had already organised four events in a month without receiving a penny from the party.
As asked by the party, many MPs have paid accident premiums under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana for scores of women, during the Raksha Bandhan festival, but most of them let it go quietly last year as the party offered no financial support.
With the Lok Sabha elections approaching, party leaders, especially those working at the grassroots, are getting increasingly uneasy and vocal about the party’s “miserliness” as the central leadership’s list of programmes, to highlight the Narendra Modi government’s achievements, keeps on growing.
Also read: Why India’s new Israel ambassador is the talk of the town
The Prime Minister and President who think alike
On Thursday, as President Ram Nath Kovind addressed Parliament at the start of the Budget session, many felt he sounded almost like Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He raised the same issues —from rural housing, Jan Dhan Yojana, Mudra scheme to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill — and just like the prime minister, praised the present government while castigating the previous dispensations. Kovind and Modi, who go back a long way, often seem to think and act alike.
Modi and Kovind’s ‘favourite student’
Last week, PM Modi met all recipients of the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar (child achievement awards) at his official residence of 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. Earlier, these young achievers had received their awards from President Kovind. Of the 26 children who received awards, one seemed to have caught the attention of both the President and the PM.
Eiha Dixit,6, who was honoured for planting 1,800 trees in her town of Meerut and its surrounding areas, seems to have emerged as a favourite. Both Kovind and Modi shared just one picture of their interactions with the children on social networking sites and their official handles, and, coincidentally, both shared a picture of Eiha. While the President picked a picture of him with Eiha just as she received her medal, PM Modi shared a fun picture of him with her at 7, LKM.
Also read: SP-BSP alliance has ruined this Bollywood actor’s Lok Sabha poll plans
The new-age politician
A video clip of a ‘budding politician’ from Suryapet district of Telangana has gone viral. It shows a man, Uppunda Prabhakar, moving door to door with a bowl of rice grains mixed with turmeric.
Prabhakar is seen in the video asking people to swear on the mantra-biyyam (holy rice) if they voted for his wife, a candidate at the gram panchayat elections in the district, and demanding his money back if they didn’t.
Residents of Jaireddygudem, from where Prabhakar’s wife stood, were allegedly paid Rs 800 per vote. Prabhakar’s wife, Hymavathi, secured merely 24 of the 269 votes in the ward. The elections were held on 25 January.
Interestingly, while campaigning for his wife, Prabhakar used a unique technique — he allegedly distributed a quarter bottle of liquor inside a plastic jug; his wife’s symbol was a jug. Since Prabhakaran allegedly used superstition against the voters, many who were scared that it would bring ill-luck, returned the money.
(Contributors: DK Singh, Ruhi Tewari and Rohini Swamy)