The Akhilesh Way
Former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav made an important announcement at the India News Manch last week. When asked about whether he would go in for an alliance with the Congress for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls he reiterated that the alliance was intact but also added that firmly that seats will be distributed only on winnability and not on egos. When asked to comment about the buzz that some Congress leaders were planning to reach out to Owaisi for a possible tie up he retorted that he was against fundamental outfits that played the politics of polarization. On a lighter note, when asked whether he should be greeted with a Jai Shri Ram or a Jai Shri Krishan he replied with a “Jai Bheem, Jai Samajwad, Jai Samvidhan”. His trademark wry humour and quick repartees always ensure a crowded room whenever Akhilesh is on the stage.
Reshuffle Buzz
Once again there is buzz about a possible cabinet reshuffle early next year. Specially since the new BJP Chief is in place the party will also be reshuffling the organization. The exercise is tipped to be a major one with some prominent faces being sent off for `party work’ (always a punishment posting when compared to the perks of holding a ministerial post). Watch this space – more so as the Congress too is contemplating an organizational reshuffle. Apart from bringing in some heavy weight leaders into the Headquarters the party also hopes to resolve some of the infighting at the state level by bringing in the senior leaders to the centre and letting the second rung establish itself at the state level without any rival power centres. Sounds good on paper but wonder how that will work at the implementation level. Recall what happened the last time the Congress tried to move Ashok Gehlot to the centre?
Thinking Out of the Box
Delhi’s Education Minister Ashish Sood has come up with a much needed plan to safeguard our school kids against pollution. Instead of asking the kids to stay at home he has decided that he will install air purifiers in the classrooms of all the government schools. There are about 38000 classrooms and tenders for the first batch of 10,000 have already been floated. Announcing this the Minister took a dig at the Aam Admi Party as well stating that, “We are not those who flaunt IIT degrees and do campaigns like Odd-Even or Gaadi On, Gaadi Off campaign. We are tackling the issue of pollution through long-term administrative measures,” he said, taking a dig at the previous Aam Aadmi Party government.” This is a much-needed step and a better solution than asking the kids to stay at home and work online given the fact that most children studying in our government schools belong to families that can barely afford mobile phones and laptops for their children. Continuing his attack on the AAP government Sood pointed out that this is a much better utilization of government funds than spending money on advertisements and self promotion.
