By Nora Chopra
HAMID ANSARI HAS HIS EYES ON RASHTRAPATI BHAVAN
The country is gripped with the raging debate on intolerance with both filmi icons Amir Khan and Shahrukh Khan reacting against intolerance. President of India Pranab Mukherjee has thrice warned the nation on intolerance. But one person who has so far not uttered a word. Is Hamid Ansari, the vice president of India. When a journalist asked him about his reaction on the debate on intolerance at a lunch hosted by him, he just avoided giving any reply. The question being asked in political circles is the VP being a Muslim himself is scared of saying anything. After all he is a diplomat and he just does not want to get into any kind of controversy. But the buzz around him is that Ansari is looking a third term. But why third term asked a Ansari supporter. He may be looking for higher to replace Mukherjee. His Muslim identity may be of help to him. It just suits the BJP to have a liberal Muslim as a president specially when it is facing charges of intolerance. The Congress has never had a Muslim President after Faqruddin Ali Ahmad. it was during the Vajpayee regime that APJ Abdul Kalam was made the president . Kalam was the most celebrated president of recent times if Ansari is elevated to the top post then his candidature will have the support of all political parties. The first time he became vice president, he was actually the candidate of the left. He was close to the then CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat.
RSS BACKING SANJAY JOSHI FOR BJP PRESIDENTSHIP
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in for a major setback. Sanjay Joshi the man whom Modi loves to hate, is all set to become the next president of the Bharatiya Janata Party replacing Modi’s man Friday Amit Shah. This would be the first visible ramification of the Bihar defeat. Pressure has mounted on both the RSS and the BJP leadership from within the rank and file of the party particularly from states like Uttar Pradesh that Shah whose term comes to an end in December should be replaced with immediate effect. The thinking in the party is that Shah being a Gujarati does not understand the political dynamics of northern India. The RSS too is not very happy with the Gujarati duo of Modi ad Shah. In fact the RSS did not want both the Gujaratis to take over the reins of the party and the government but were helpless in the face of Modi’s massive victory. But now after their failure in both Delhi and Bihar and with elections due in Bengal and Assam, the RSS feels it has become imperative to change the top leadership. Though there are many contenders for the post including Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari the RSS does not want any minister to become a party head. They want that Sanjay Joshi can be acceptable to all factions. He can emerge as a consensus candidate. The RSS has already organised two meetings between Joshi and Shah and some kind oh understanding has been reached upon. Joshi has suddenly joined the twitter and in a few days, he has had 1500 hits .This shows how popular he is. When Modi got him sacked he was in charge of UP. The RSS wants him to take charge of the party with immediate effect so that the Bihar type verdict is avoided in UP where elections are due in 2017.. The RSS has so far succeeded in building a consensus around Sanjay Joshi but the PM. Narendra Modi is yet to give his nod.
ANTI-MODI MINISTERS AT CENTRE MAY BE OUT SOON
After the massive defeat in Bihar assembly elections, the BJP leadership has gone in a spin. Narendra Modi does not even know what is going on in the party. Soon after the defeat of the party there has been only rumblings within the party and the prime minister has become the target of all those who were isolated by Modi over one year ever since Modi became PM The outburst came from the top leaders like L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shatrughan Sinha and Yashwant Sinha but the worst came from some ministers of the Modi government who are supposed to have celebrated his defeat in Bihar. A cabinet minister is believed to have even distributed sweets at the Modi-Shah duo’s Bihar defeat. Modi’s supporters are gunning for those and they may be out when PM reshuffles his cabinet next.
FOR RAJYA SABHA NOMINATION FROM BIHAR
The morale of the Congress now is really high. The party is going to add one more MP to Its tally of 65 in the upper house of parliament. Even though the election to Rajya Sabha is due only in February. The race for this lone RS seat has already begun. . Among those who are in queue are the Congress general secretary in charge of Punjab Shakeel Ahmad He is also the Congress’s Bihar face in Delhi. Each time there is a vacancy in the upper house, he has been a serious contender. But the party has always preferred a local from that state when the election was due. But this time his hope has actually risen as the party will not have any excuse to say that he does not belong to Bihar. Another very serious contender for the RS nomination is the AICC in charge of Bihar C.P. Thakur. He is busy taking the credit of the Congress bagging 27 seats in the state. Nikhil Kumar who was chairman Bihar election committee. is also a contender. The other serious contender is P. Chidambaram Though, he is an outsider, the party needs him in Rajya Sabha. Recently Rahul Gandhi too praised him that among the senior leaders he respects, P Chidambaram is one of them. Now everything depends on Rahul to decide. But finally it may be Kapil Sibal who may have the last laugh. Kapil has been lobbying hard to get into Rajya Sabha but the Congress leadership has yet to oblige him. But now the Congress president may not stop him as he is known to be Lalu’s man in the Congress. Sibal is known for his proximity to Lalu Yadav. He is Lalu’s legal adviser and had entered Parliament for the first time with Lalu’s support. (IPA)