Bjp tried to poach me: Shinde
Senior Congress party leader and former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told The Sunday Guardian that the Bharatiya Janata Party was the “biggest political poacher”. He said that he had rejected an offer from the BJP to join it. In a lighter vein, Shinde said, “These poachers should be booked under the Wildlife Act on poaching charges.”
“A top BJP leader had approached me and my daughter Praniti with an offer to join the saffron party,” the former Union Home Minister said. “I refused the offer as the Congress party runs in my blood. I will remain in the Congress till my last breath.”
A Dalit, Shinde, who lost the 2014 Lok Sabha elections to BJP’s Sharad Bansode from Solapur by 1.5 lakh vote, is contesting again. The BJP has fielded Siddheshwar Shivacharya, a religious leader from the Lingayat community. Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of B.R. Ambedkar, has made it a three-cornered contest in Solapur.
BJP’s ‘Shatru’ finally in Congress camp
Shatrughan Sinha’s final induction into the Congress has been deferred until 6 April, the first day of Navratra, on account of fresh tension between the grand old party and its Bihar ally RJD. It was learnt that the postponement was because he wanted both RJD and Congress leaders to attend his induction, but fresh tension between the two allies ensured this did not happen. Sources said RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav told the Congress ahead of Sinha’s joining that it would not spare the Darbhanga Lok Sabha seat for it. This was an embarrassment to the Congress, which recently got rebel BJP Darbhanga MP, Kirti Azad to its fold, promising to repeat him from the seat. By the end of the day, the Congress had relented to the RJD which took away Darbhanga from the Congress quota amid reports that Azad would now have to fight from Betia. The RJD also wanted Supaul, where the Congress has a sitting MP, Ranjeet Ranjan but the Congress finally got this seat.
Lalu had earlier asked Sinha not to join the Congress and had invited him to come to the RJD.
Meanwhile, in Bihar’s ‘Little Moscow’
Bihar’s Begusarai is known as the “Leningrad of Bihar” and “Little Moscow”. The region acquired these names after witnessing a long-drawn Communist-led struggle between the landless and the landlords, Bhumihars. Here the Left vote bank is still intact, both in the town and in the villages. However, the CPI’s Yogendra Sharma won the seat way back in 1967. Since then, the seat has remained mostly with the Congress, RJD and JD(U), till the BJP wrested it in the last general elections. Why then is BJP’s top leader Giriraj Singh upset over being shifted to Begusarai from Nawada? It is because of the presence of CPI’s youth leader, Kanhaiya Kumar, the former JNU Students’ Union president, who is facing criminal charges for being allegedly involved in a meeting where anti-India slogans were raised. However, the presence of Tanveer Hassan of the RJD, who came second from the seat in 2014, has made the battle even more interesting.
‘Judges, doctors are vulnerable’
The other day, in a lighter vein, Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi said judges and doctors were vulnerable. Gogoi said both judges and doctors shared one thing—the trust of the people.
Speaking at the 52nd foundation of the Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS, Gogoi said that when he received the invitation to inaugurate the event, he wondered what a CJI would do at an eye centre. “Soon I found out the logic behind it,” said Gogoi pointing out that medicine share a common goal and that was to serve society. Both judges and members of the medical fraternity work for the promotion of human rights, Gogoi said adding “although it makes judges and doctors quite vulnerable”.
Praising the Dr R.P. Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences and its chief, Prof Atul Kumar for excellent human service, Gogoi said that a large number of patients from across the country showed that it had lived up to its motto: From Darkness to Light.
A Padma Shri award winner, Atul Kumar is rated as a top retina expert.