WORK IN PROGRESS
The India Ideas Conclave 2016 organised by BJP general secretary Ram Madhav and his India Foundation, had “Democracy, Development & Dissent” as its theme. On a session discussing parliamentary reform, the moderator Minister of State asked whether our governance system was working well. Not many answered in the positive, though Jay Panda quipped he would like to raise half a hand, for governance was working, if not too well. Politics was not far away, with Rajeev Chandrasekhar referring to Rahul Gandhi as a young leader in a very old party and criticising him for tragedy tourism. BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma made a very interesting observation about regional disparity when he pointed out that while Karnataka was fighting over a Rs 2,000 crore steel flyover, the money was enough “bread and butter” for the entire state of Assam for a year. RSS leader Dattatreya Hosabale also displayed a deft sense of humour when he was asked whether the Narendra Modi government had appointed the right people in the right institutions. He quipped, “Good Question. Wrong address.”
STRANGE GATHBANDAN
Are the Congress, JDU and the SP going for an alliance in Uttar Pradesh? There was much speculation after Congress strategist Prashant Kishor met the SP leader in the capital recently. Though for the record Congress leaders have questioned whether Kishor had the mandate of the leadership to negotiate this alliance. However, sources tell us an alliance is on the cards, which brings us to the next question. If they are going in for an alliance, why announce Sheila Dikshit as the Chief Ministerial face? For SP would project its own face and the Congress has let it be known that Rahul Gandhi prefers Akhilesh Yadav to Mulayam. Dikshit said as much to NewsX in an interview, pointing to Akhilesh’s endorsement of Rahul’s “khoon ki dalali” comment recently. When asked where that left her own status as the CM face, she said, “On the face of it, it does appear contradictory but thought processes can change out of necessity.” So watch this space for more on the Congress-SP alliance.