| Published on 23-04-2008 In National |
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| Corridor Whispers - Apr 23 Part - 2 |
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Written by
Insider |
BJP Rajya Sabha brigade's Quest
There is disquiet in the BJP. The top echelons are tense over L.K. Advani's diktat to contest Lok Sabha polls. The Rajya Sabha wallahs consisting of Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Jaswant Singh, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Venkaiah Naidu and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi are scouting for "safe" Lok Sabha seats. Unfortunately in this time and age, nothing is safe. Rajnath is hoping to evade on grounds of him being party chief criss-crossing the nation while campaigning. But the theory has been debunked pointing that prime minister-in-waiting Advani will be doing exactly the same. Rajnath has now proposed Lucknow as his electoral turf but the constituency has many takers including those close to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Rajnath is frantically looking for a safe seat in western UP like Noida which has huge urban population.
Last heard, Sushma was rushing to Hoshangabad on the banks of river Narmada trying to find if it was safe enough. Hoshangabad has a history of humbling high and mighty. It had relegated Arjun Singh as poor third when the Churhat thakur was hoping to be the prime minister.
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Following in Priyanka's footsteps
Following Priyanka's footsteps. Himanshu Sabharwal, son of deceased Ujjain professor H.S. Sabharwal who was killed during the student union polls, has aped the young Gandhi by meeting his father's killers.
Himanhsu sought judge's permission in Nagpur to meet the key accused Shashi Ranjan 'Akela' and posed a Priyanka like query, "Who killed my father." Akela, BJP-backed ABVP leader denied assaulting Professor Sabharwal and pleaded for mercy. Himanshu said the interaction may not yield any progress; he wanted to experience how it was to meet someone who is charged with killing his father.
Madhya Pradesh BJP leaders however see it as a sure sign of Himanshu's political leanings. The ruling BJP accused of shielding the guilty that prompted the Supreme Court to order Sabharwal trial outside the state, has been accusing Himanshu of nursing political ambitions.
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Mani under siege!
Union Panchayati Raj and Department of North East minister Mani Shankar Aiyar's space is shrinking constantly. First, he lost room as sports minister when M.S. Gill replaced him in Shastri Bhawan. Now Gill wants Aiyar's trusted aide Venkat Raman. Now that is too much for Aiyar to bear. The career diplomat told Gill that Venkat can not be spared and won that round.
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SMS monitoring
UPA's parliamentary floor managers have found a novel method to track their MPs during crucial debates and voting. With mercury climbing up, many of our hard-working parliamentarians skip house for a siesta leading to frequent quorum problems. Union minister of state for parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has begun a practice of sending sms messages to MPs' mobile requesting them to be in the house. SMS delivery report comes handy. This week, Bansal who is also minister of state for banking relied heavily on sms and was pleasantly surprised to record that MPs' attendance swelled thanks to the "chota phone."
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Problem of Plenty for Congress
Karnataka assembly polls are proving to be a nightmare for the Congress. The AICC functionaries handling Karnataka have a bigger 'in-house' challenge than facing stiff opposition from the BJP and JD(S). First and foremost there is a problem of plenty. Karnataka has too many heavyweights namely S.M.Krishna, Margaret Alva, Veerappa Moily, C.K. Jaffer Sharief, B.K. Hari Prasad, Oscar Fernandes, Mallikarjuna Kharge and Siddaramaiah to name a few. Most of them have long list of relatives and fellow-travelers as ticket seekers. Each time Sonia Gandhi and her son travel to the election-bound state, these "stalwarts" vie to share dais with them. But as per stringent security guidelines only six persons can be at the podium. With these mighty problems in hand, senior Congress leaders wonder how they will chalk out a poll strategy. |
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