By Nora Chopra
RAHUL GANDHI DETERMINED TO GO TO JAIL ON NATIONAL HERALD ISSUE
The Congress party is divided on the Congress strategy on the National Herald issue. While Rahul is adamant to go to jail, there are senior leaders who feel that it is not the correct strategy to be adopted at this time. According to a Congress general secretary, this is not the same time and neither is Rahul Gandhi an Indira Gandhi, while she had no charges of corruption against her. There are umpteen charges against the erstwhile UPA government. The Morarji government had been harassing Indira Gandhi. Thus when she went to jail there was a wave of sympathy in her favour. Congress senior leaders claim that Indira Gandhi was a mass leader which Rahul is not. Besides the Congress leaders are extremely concerned about the health of the 90 plus Motilal Vora and also ailing Sonia Gandhi
MAHARASHTRA PCC CHIEF GETTING CLOSE WITH STATE CHIEF MINISTER
Resentment is brewing within the Maharashtra Congress against the PCC Chief Ashok Chavan for joining hands with the BJP chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. . The only seat the BJP has won in the entire Vidharba region is Puvhurna nagarpalika in the Bellar assembly segment which is Fadnavis‘s home town. The victory of BJP in the lone nagarpalika seat is being credited to Chavan who did not even go there to campaign allowing the BJP to win that seat . Again in the election for the upper house in the legislative assembly, the only seat the BJP has won is of Nagpur. But Chavan is being attacked for not giving a Congress candidate in Nagpur allowing the BJP to win the MLC seat. The BJP on the other hand has not given a candidate in Mumbai indicating understanding between the CM and the PCC chief..
THREE SHAKEELS ARE IN RACE FOR BIHAR PCC PRESIDENT POST
With the Bihar PCC chief Ashok Choudhury being made a minister in the Nitish Kumar government, the Congress leadership has sounded a hunt for a new PCC chief. The thinking In the party is that since Bihar is a state where no party can survive unless they have a support base of some or the castes. While Laloo has the Yadav support, Nitish is known as a kurmi leader and the bhumihars are totally behind the BJP. The Congress for the last several years has been struggling hard to survive. But in the absence of any firm caste based support base, the Congress has been decimated in both in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. But after the Bihar victory, the Congress is feeling the need to build a support base in the state. The Congress either wants a Muslim or Brahmin to fill the vacancy created by Ashok Choudhury For Bihar the leadership has sounded a search for a Muslim strong man. . Among the names that are under consideration are of three Shakeels – Shakeel Ahmad, who is AICC general secretary in charge of Punjab, Shakeel Uzamn Ansari an ex-secretary of the AICC is a backward Muslim and currently a member in the OBC commission. But both are serious contenders for a seat in Rajya Sabha. The other I is Shakeel Ahmad Khan who is now an MLA from Katva in Bihar.
PRIME MINISTER HAS GREAT FAITH IN CHEF SANJEEV KAPOOR
Arun Jaitley’s daughter’s wedding reception brought out another side of the workaholic and businesslike prime minister, Narendra Modi. On reaching the venue of the reception, Modi spotted the celebrity chef, Sanjeev Kapoor. He is believed to have walked up to Kapoor and thrown a question at the chef after greeting him warmly. What was it for a chef to be eating food prepared by others? It is not every day that the PM gets to ask a question himself. Kapoor was heard saying that he would have to eat first to be able to give a feedback. Modi obviously trusts Kapoor’s palate, for in August this year, Kapoor was flown to Abu Dhabi to cook a special vegetarian fare for the PM for the dinner hosted by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which controls the $800 billion sovereign wealth fund of the oil-rich Gulf country.
AJIT SINGH IN TOUCH WITH RAJNATH SINGH FOR ALLIANCE TALKS
In the aftermath of the Bihar defeat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the charge of Uttar Pradesh to his home minister and ex party president Rajnath Singh and has assigned him the responsibility of the BJP victory in the state assembly elections in 2017. . Rajnath who knows the caste and the political dynamics of the state very well, is in touch with jat leader Ajit Singh. Ajit Singh who too has been alienated by all political parties and is keen to get back to mainstream, wants a political as well as a social ally. In western UP Mulayam Singh does not matter so does Congress. Mayawati alone is a factor and after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections .BJP too has emerged as a major player. On the other hand, the social alliance of Muslims and Jats too has been broken in the after math of the Muzaffarnagar riots. Ever since he lost the elections, nobody is ready to touch him. With Mayawati not willing to have any alliance with anyone Singh has no other option but to align with the BJP. Amar Singh who contested on the RLD ticket in 2014 elections, is said to be the mediator. (IPA)