PK IN THE DOCK
Rumours are abuzz in the Congress that its wonder boy, Prashant Kishor, has been given a dressing down by the High Command (read Sonia Gandhi) recently. The entire Priyanka-for-UP chorus has been traced to have been choreographed by this master strategist, and the Gandhis are not too happy. Particularly when Priyanka has been advised not to take any direct responsibility for a state that the Congress is tipped to come fourth in. So, last heard, a frantic PK was dialling beat-level reporters (his favourite planting fields) and peddling back his Priyanka stories.
CONGRESS RESHUFFLE ON HOLD
The Congress reshuffle that was slated to happen soon has been put on hold till September. For that is when Rahul Gandhi is tipped to take charge as Congress president and the conventional wisdom seems to be to let the new president choose his new team.
NO ONE WRITING OFF SMRITI, YET
BJP leaders were heard remarking that it took one and a half moves for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reshuffle to be deemed as a bold move. One was the shift of HRD Minister Smirti Irani to textiles, while the half was shunting Jayant Sinha from finance to civil aviation. But no one is writing Smirti off yet, for channels are now allotting a journalist to cover the erstwhile ignored textile beat. Clearly, there is expectation that Irani will soon be back in the headlines — hether for good or bad reasons, only she knows.
V.K. SINGH’S DILEMMA
The joke in the Ministry of External Affairs is that MoS V.K. Singh wanted Akbar Road to be renamed Maharana Pratap Road, but now he has a bigger problem on his hands with Akbar (M.J.) himself moving into the ministerial office next to him. A history buff, perhaps M.J. Akbar can educate his new colleague to turn his ire on Mansingh Road instead, for it was Mansingh who led the Mughal forces in Haldighati against Maharana Pratap.