Last week, Hardeep Puri, Cabinet Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, held a dinner at his residence to honour India’s award-winning sports team that won a record 107 medals at the 19th Asian Games. The evening also commended the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board for its support to the athletes; a fact that was appreciated by the Cabinet Minister for Sports, Anurag Thakur, who was also present. When Anurag commented that he hoped the oil companies would continue to make profits so they can support the athletes, Hardeep Puri was quick to point out that regardless of profits the oil companies would continue their support the players as an article of faith. He added that what impressed him was the look of determination in their eyes, and one couldn’t let them down. Anurag also quipped that usually one associated centuries with cricketers like Dhoni and Tendulkar but today it was our athletes who were scoring centuries by winning over a hundred medals. What one also saw was the team spirit between the two ministries as both ministers worked together to make the athletes feel welcome, with Hardeep Puri’s wife and former diplomat Lakshmi Puri walking from table to table ensuring that the players got enough to eat and getting each one to share his or her experience at the Games. In fact, at the start of the evening, when the Puris realised that the players had skipped lunch that day due to their various engagements, they reversed the order of events and served dinner before the speeches. Which worked out well, as coffee time coincided with the show on stage.
The Pinch of Salt in the
Desert Sand
Meanwhile in the Congress the tussle between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot intensifies as it is also time for ticket distribution. The Pilot camp got a shot in the arm when the Gandhis denied a ticket to a key Gehlot supporter, state minister Shanti Dhariwal. Last year when the Gandhis had wanted to replace Gehlot with Pilot, Dhariwal had opposed the move and had allegedly asked, who is the high command. This comment clearly rankled because both Sonia and Rahul have opposed Dhariwal’s ticket for renomination. This is not in isolation. Recently Rahul had also differed with Gehlot on the issue of caste survey. While Rahul wanted all Congress states to undertake a caste survey, the Rajasthan Chief Minister agreed but is said to have mooted the idea that it should be part of the election manifesto. However, Rahul prevailed that it should instead be an announcement by the current state government. Quick to rub it in, Sachin Pilot had praised his bete-noir Gehlot at the recent CWC for its decision to undertake a caste survey. Those who were wondering why Pilot was suddenly praising Gehlot missed the pinch of salt that it was served with.
Collateral Damage
The Mahua Moitra saga is certainly dominating the headlines leading to a trial by media, with Shashi Tharoor being collateral damage. While Mahua has an ongoing battle with Nishikant Dubey (BJP MP), her ex-boyfriend and lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai and some right wing trolls, Tharoor got caught in the crossfire when a picture of him along with the TMC MP began doing the rounds. Later it came to light that this was a cropped photograph with Tharoor’s sister also sharing the frame with the duo, but since that would not have suited the scurrilous agenda of those who put out that picture, Tharoor’s sister was edited out. Pick any side you want in this battle (or better still, stay out of it!), but using cropped photographs to slander reputations cannot be condoned. To his credit, Tharoor has not commented on the controversy, staying away from this trial by the media. Mahua on the other hand is taking every allegation head on, leading to a fierce volley of Twitter exchanges between her versus Dubey and Dehadrai, this is a drama that’s not going to end anytime soon.