House hunting for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Lucknow
Congress workers are hunting for a house for party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Lucknow. Members of the ‘search team’ said two houses have so far been shortlisted for Vadra — in Gokhale Marg and Gomati Nagar localities. When Vadra had gone to the Uttar Pradesh capital for Gandhi Jayanti celebrations, she took some time out to visit the house located on Gokhale Marg.
Party sources said the house belongs to late Sheila Kaul, Indira Gandhi’s maternal aunt. Kaul’s family no longer resides there and Congress’ UP headquarters is located only 3 km from it. But since Vadra is a Special Protection Group (SPG) protectee, the house is being evaluated from the security point of view.
The party’s search team is also keeping the other house, at Gomati Nagar, ready in case Kaul’s house is not deemed fit. Since becoming the UP in-charge for the Congress party, Vadra has been staying in hotels during her trips to Lucknow.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections she had stayed in Raebareli’s Bhuemau guest house. As Vadra hunts for a house now in Lucknow, Congress leaders believe the party will become more active in the run-up to the 2022 UP assembly elections.
India, Pakistan op-ed wars teaching authors a thing or two about American media
A prominent Indian political commentator, close to the government, had sent his article to The Washington Post a few weeks ago. But the author was put off due to the long wait and the number of fact-check queries. He decided to withdraw his article and eventually published it in an Indian news outlet.
Many in the BJP later asked why The Washington Post then published an article by an ‘anti-BJP writer’ who made allegations of intimidation and torture by the Indian Army in Kashmir.
Similarly, ahead of the ‘Howdy Modi!’ event, Indian ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla’s article to The New York Times was also sent back to him with a long list of queries. This back-and-forth fact-checking had lasted for more than a week before the piece was published.
The article also received a rebuttal in the form of a letter to the editor from the press minister at the Embassy of Pakistan within four days.
But the most significant and smooth tit-for-tat was when Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote about Mahatma Gandhi and non-violence in The New York Times. The same newspaper where Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan had held out a veiled nuclear threat only a few weeks ago.
Bhupinder Hooda has the last laugh
Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had the last laugh in the party’s ticket distribution process. As many as 47 out of the 90 candidates declared by the party are Hooda loyalists, a member of the party screening committee has claimed.
A Haryana leader even went on to claim that at least a dozen more also owed allegiance to the former chief minister. In the unlikely scenario that Congress emerges as a winner in the state, this could make Hooda the top contender for the post of chief minister.
This had put off former Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar, who resigned from all party committees Thursday alleging sale of tickets. He alleged that Rs 5 crore had changed hands for the Sohna assembly seat. Other leaders whose loyalists were given tickets include Randeep Singh Surjewala, Kumari Selja, Kuldeep Bishnoi and Captain Ajay Yadav.
Obviously, the Congress is not inclined to change its old ‘quota system’ in ticket distribution despite repeated electoral drubbings.
Bomb scare at Rouse Avenue court
There has been a sudden surge in bomb scares on court premises in Delhi in the recent years. First, it was the Delhi High Court that had in 2017 received an anonymous call about a bomb threat. Though it proved to be a hoax, the Delhi Police’s Quick Response Team was deployed on the court premises.
Second, it was the Patiala House Court complex which received an anonymous call informing about bomb threats on its premises. After hours of intense combing operation, the court complex was declared bomb-free.
The latest scare was at the newly-opened Rouse Avenue District Court complex when an unclaimed bag was found Thursday in the courtroom of Special CBI Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar, who is currently hearing several matters of political bigwigs such as P Chidambaram and D.K. Shivakumar.
After an intense security check, the courtroom was cleared and a new directive was issued that no bags would be allowed inside it.
Even though almost all bomb scares in the complexes have proven to be a hoax, there is no denying that these could be attempts at breaching security, especially when courts hear sensitive issues and verdicts often leave litigants disgruntled.
(Contributors: Prashant Srivastava, Deeksha Bhardwaj and Debayan Roy)
May be she should be looking for a house near Tihar jail, since her husband will soon be housed there.
She is just propped by leftist media like print,India today as well hindustantimes,Ndtv,the Hindu,
Times of India etc etc. Total media spin. Absolutely no impact on the ground. Road map to where?