Pre-Truth — snappy, witty and significant snippets from the world of politics and government.
Scolded by the PM, minister says don’t know what I did
During the ‘At Home’ reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 15 August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stopped an interaction with his ministers midway when he spotted minister of state for health Ashwini Kumar Choubey.
The Prime Minister had a message for Choubey: He had been watching his statements in the media and he was not pleased.
“All my hard work goes in vain when people make out-of-turn statements,” Modi told Choubey.
The minister later told party colleagues that he had no idea what statement Modi was referring to, having seemingly forgotten his recent arguments with Congress MP Pradip Bhattacharya outside Parliament over the national register of citizens (NRC).
The minister had told the Congress leader that only Indians were allowed to live in India and the rest could leave. His remarks had been reported widely.
This former Congress MP & Sushma Swaraj are six shades similar
There is something common between external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and former Congress MP Pramod Tiwari: They colour-coordinate their outfits for different days of the week.
While Swaraj has sarees of a particular colour for each day of the week, Tiwari’s jackets reflect the chosen theme of a given day.
He wears a white jacket on Monday, red on Tuesday, green on Wednesday, yellow on Thursday, pink on Friday, and black on Saturday. However, there is no colour for Sunday. Swaraj also follows the same colour pattern, which is reportedly in sync with planetary alignments.
The painter PMO thinks commoners won’t understand
The government is looking for a fitting image to put on a commemorative stamp for the much-delayed launch of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB). The postal department had chosen a painting by renowned artist Satish Gujral.
However, it was vetoed amid concerns in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) that the painting will not find resonance among the common people, for whom IPPB is intended.
Meanwhile, the launch of IPPB has been postponed again. It was supposed to have been rolled out on 21 August by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but the event had to be rescheduled given the seven-day national mourning for former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Also read: Modi’s social media missive withdrawn & how Rahul turned book launch into a political event
This Gadkari directive has stumped BRO
Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari has issued a directive that no official of the Border Road Organisation (BRO) should meet him while in Army fatigues, although it’s not known exactly why.
Army engineers in the BRO wear the Army uniform, while personnel from the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) have their own uniforms. The government hasn’t been happy about the BRO’s performance, but the minister’s instruction has left BRO officials in a quandary.
How to get people to stop touching your feet, Naidu style
Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu doesn’t like people touching his feet. He has little interaction with party workers in his new role, but it was a constant struggle for him to dissuade people from doing it in the days before.
Exasperated, Naidu finally began telling people that touching his feet would shorten their life span by a few minutes. It worked.
The new J&K governor is an archaeology lover who also pens poems
For a politician, the new J&K governor Satyapal Malik certainly has very interesting hobbies. According to his official bio, the former union minister loves “history and archaeology, pigeon-flying and writing poetry”. Pigeon-flying, by the way, is a favourite pastime among residents of western Uttar Pradesh, the region the governor hails from.
(Contributors: Kumar Anshuman, Ruhi Tewari, D.K. Singh and Maneesh Chhibber)
Also read: Sibal & CJI Dipak Misra are ‘related’ & CPI(M)’s ‘double standards’ in condoling deaths