Calendar to make up for Priyanka’s absence in UP
After Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, it’s his sister and party General Secretary in charge of Eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s turn to explore soft Hindutva politics.
The UP Congress has launched a 12-page ‘Priyanka Calendar’ to be distributed to 10 lakh homes. One of the pictures of Priyanka in the calendar shows her in saffron attire, garlanded, and with tika on the forehead, offering prayers at Mahakal temple in Madhya Pradesh dedicated to Lord Shiva.
One such picture is also on a hoarding near the entrance of Congress headquarters in Lucknow.
The UP Congress earlier organised a Cow Yatra in Bundelkhand.
“Akhilesh Yadav recently tweeted pictures with Ayodhya’s saints and Chitrakoot temple, so why can’t we do this?” said a Congress functionary.
Priyanka had met many anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters last year, but there are no pictures of her with them in the calendar.
In another picture on the calendar, Priyanka is seen walking with tribal women in the field in Sonbhadra where 11 tribals had been killed in 2019 connection with a land dispute.
In another picture, she is seen at a function of Sant Ravidas.
Priyanka has been missing in action from UP for a year, except her occasional visits like the one to Hathras in October to meet the family of a gang-rape victim.
Many UP Congresspersons are upset by what they think is her politics of ‘headline hunting’. The calendar is now expected to make up for her absence from UP.
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Murmurs of KTR taking over grow louder in Telangana
It’s not the first time that there is buzz about IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao, popularly known as KTR, taking over the reins from his father, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, also known as KCR. However, the murmurs are getting louder.
Starting from cabinet ministers to legislators, several ruling party leaders have started hinting at public events that KTR is likely to take over soon and the decision of the party’s ‘boss’ will be accepted by all.
In a recent event at South Central Railways Employees Sangh, Telangana assembly Deputy Speaker T. Padma Rao Goud addressed TRS working president KTR as the “future Telangana CM” who would assume the post shortly. KTR, who was also on the stage, did not react.
It all started with Health Minister Eatala Rajender, one of KCR’s close aides. At a public event, he said KTR is looking after several major programmes in the state. The minister also said that if the need arises, the CM will hand over the reins to KTR.
Meanwhile, a few other ruling party MLAs were unhappy over KTR taking over and opined that he was inexperienced to take over. There’s also curiosity on what position KCR’s daughter Kavitha Kalvakuntla and nephew Harish Rao would hold if KTR takes over.
Covid tests to be held at the national media Centre
Pandemic times call for different measures. The Press Information Bureau, which is the communication arm of the Government of India, has sent out a circular asking all officials associated with the Union Budget or the Economic Survey to undergo Covid-19 RT-PCR tests.
The tests will be held from 9.30 am to 12.30 am at the national media Centre Monday, 25 January.
To avoid crowding, officers have been asked to assemble at the cafeteria at designated times to undergo the tests. These are officers who will be going to the North Block both on Budget Day on 1 February and a day before to work in the “quarantine zone” as is the custom before the Budget is presented in Parliament.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has already announced that all MPs before the upcoming Budget session will also have to undergo RT-PCR tests.
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It seems like a replica of Rajiv Gandhi’s decision to open the gates to overcome the political crisis after the judgement of honorable Supreme court in the Shah Bano case as per the advice of his loyal Z E ansari to attract voters. Marx was right-“ historical entities appear twice, the first as tragedy, then as farce” ( Courtesy to The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, By Karl Marx). Not only her but also the ” Communist Cow” in recent elections also is such a blunt.