SUCCESS BY STEALTH
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s move to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes was planned with great secrecy. Only those who needed to know were in the know. The morning of 8 November before his historic announcement the PM met with all three Service chiefs, sparking off speculation that his surprise 8 pm address that day could have something to do with national security. Most anticipated the announcement of a second surgical strike against Pakistan. The Cabinet was briefed of the demonetisation move only at 6.30 pm that day and after the meeting the ministers were asked not to leave until the PM briefed the nation. Since mobile phones are not allowed inside Cabinet meetings, there was no way they could get word outside. Party spokesmen too were called on landlines and told to watch the 8 pm broadcast. Clearly, the fact that the PM and his team managed to keep a move of this magnitude under wraps is as important as the move itself, because its success lay in its stealth.
RAHUL AS PARTY PRESIDENT
So now the Congress and its heir apparent have finally made up their respective—and not always synchronised—minds about Rahul Gandhi’s elevation, there is some speculation about its timing. Could it be on 19 November, which is Indira Gandhi’s 100th birth anniversary or at a later stage, post UP and Punjab polls? Initially the plan was to delay the elevation until the eve of the 2019 polls, but Sonia Gandhi’s health played a crucial factor in hastening this decision. In fact, Congressmen point out that of late, it is Rahul who is taking all the crucial decisions, with even Sonia Gandhi referring Congressmen, who call on her, to him. More so, it has also sent a message to the pro Priyanaka camp that for now this is going to be a Rahul road-show all the way.
CONGRESS VS PRASHANT KISHOR
Is Prashant Kishor set to split ways with the Congress? Congress leaders were quick to reject his plan to stitch up an alliance in UP as a move that did not have the mandate of the leadership. They also point to the fact that he has been asked to move out of the party’s war room in Gurudwara Rakabganj Road to an office in Noida and to route all his suggestions through Congress general secretary in charge of UP, Ghulam Nabi Azad. Sundry leaders like Raj Babbar have taken to referring to him as a campaign director and not a campaign manager (Babbar at one point is even said to have referred to him as a sound-recordist). His bills have been queried by party treasurer Motilal Vora. But what was the final straw was his fight with a key Sonia loyalist where Kishor is said to have pointed out that since the Congress could not contain Narendra Modi’s rise in Gujarat what credentials did it have to raise finger at his strategy in UP? Kishor, it seems, has dug his own well, and Congressmen are now merely speculating on the timing of his fall.
OF RAJYA SABHA
At the India Ideas Conclave, BJD leader and Lok Sabha MP Jay Panda spoke of his now infamous suggestion of Rajya Sabha reforms (as Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a Rajya Sabha MP quipped, Jay is quite notorious in the Rajya Sabha for this). However, Panda clarified that he was not suggesting a mere advisory role for the Rajya Sabha, for as he said, “We have 1.25 billion advisors in our country so we don’t need to give special status to 245. But what I said was that they should not be allowed to have a complete veto over the Lok Sabha.” Well, that’s a debate that’s not going to end anytime soon if 245 people have their way.