| Published on 19-02-2008 In National |
| Viewed 1323 times |
| Corridor Whispers - Feb 19 Part - 2 |
|
|
Written by
Insider |
Talking Heads training
Are Lok Sabha elections going to be ahead of the schedule? Other than the hectic budgetary preparations for a "political budget," the Congress has ordered a crash course for its spokespersons handpicked from all over the country. The best and most visible faces 24X7 channels including the two recent Padma shree awardees have been invited to give lectures on how to make best use of media. The spokespersons are equally excited. Some of them feel a personal rapport with top anchors may see them on the idiot box at least at some stage of their life. Last heard, the country's oldest political party was considering an "honorarium" for guest lecturers. Some however like to prefer "IoU" voucher than a monetary reward.
-----------------------------------------
Caught in a Bind
Young Jitin Prasada is caught in a bind. The AICC Secretary recently got attached to AICC general secretary V.Narayanaswamy in charge of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh.
The Shahjahanpur MP has divided loyalties in Madhya Pradesh. He considers former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh as his "mama" (uncle) while in the young MPs group, he is close to Jyotiraditya Scindia. Diggy-Scindia camps are sharply divided in MP politics on the principle of "you are either with us or against us…". Union minister of State Suresh Pachauri who heads the MPCC wants Jitin to be attentive to its demands.
-----------------------------------------
Karat's dilemmas
The March party Congress of the CPM is proving to be a headache for Prakash Karat and other top Marxist leaders. It is not n-deal or Manmohan Singh' economic policies that is bothering Karat and co. but the dilemma over party's old guard represented by ailing Harkishan Singh Surjeet and aging Jyoti Basu.
Both veterans will not be attending Calcutta party Congress (for the first time in last 44-years) but the big question is how the party would say goodbye to them from an elite politburo. They are the only surviving members of the original politburo that was formed in 1964 after CPI's split.
Karat is under pressure to infuse fresh blood in 17-member politburo and get adequate representation for women, regions and minorities. In theory, CPM is opposed to these considerations but in practice, it is keen to keep itself alive to these new social realities and provide political empowerment to these sections.
9. The Rajya Sabha may be having creamy layer of country's political class consisting of likes of Dr Manmohan Singh, Jaswant Singh, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Shivraj Patil, A.K. Antony and others but it is way behind the Lok Sabha in many ways.
The Lok Sabha has a successful 24 hour channel so now the house of elders is considering its own channel. In addition, it wants to keep scribes covering Rajya Sabha posted through sms and other high tech measures. The house of the people is going to have some competition now.
-----------------------------------------
UP Cong. MPs roving eye
The Congress leadership may be busy working out "social engineering" in election-bound states but news from Uttar Pradesh is far from good. Grapevine has it that five of its Lok Sabha MPs who had won on their own steam from various UP towns are in touch with Maya memsahib. These non "celebrity" and forward-caste MPs are said to be wary of the Congress prospects and are eyeing Bahujan Samaj Party as their next destination. It is time for Rahul baba and Digvijay Singh to pay more attention to their tribe than to express concern about political situation in Nepal.
|
|
|
|
|
| Social Web |  |
| |
|
|
| |
Processing please wait ...
Top Stories
