Kejri will join hands with Prakash Ambedkar
Dalit voters matter in Punjab, for which Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is going all out to woo them in the Assembly elections. For this purpose he has got in touch with Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s grandson, Prakash Ambedkar, who has his own political party, the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh. According to Suresh Kanojea, national president of the Akhil Bharatiya Dalit and Muslim Mahasangh and a close associate of Prakash Ambedkar, a meeting between the two leaders is likely to be held in Delhi by December end or in the new year. The two may even hold joint rallies. The AAP has promised Prakash Ambedkar a Rajya Sabha seat from Punjab if it emerges victorious and forms government there.
Jaitley reaches out
BJP hawks in Parliament should learn from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on how to handle an angry Opposition. The other day in the Lok Sabha, when the Opposition, led by the Trinamool Congress was shouting slogans against demonetisation, Harsimrat Kaur Badal drew Jaitley’s attention to TMC MP Idris Ali’s designer dhoti. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who was sitting next to Jaitley, told Idris Ali that he should get a similar dhoti for the Finance Minister to match the latter’s shawl. After praising Idris Ali’s dhoti. Jaitley requested him to ask the TMC MPs to lower their decibels. When Idris Ali went back to the well of the House, the TMC MPs continued with their sloganeering, but in a more subdued tone. The din subsided to a large extent.
‘I can scold Rahul’
Are we to believe that a senior Congress leader, who belongs to hill state has become so powerful that he can even scold Rahul Gandhi? He bragged to a TV channel that “Mein Rahul Gandhi ko samjha bhi sakta hoon, daant bhi sakta hoon, aur unko chup bhi kara sakta hoon (I can make Rahul understand, scold him, quieten him)”. The Congress rank and file has reacted strongly to this. But then some are saying that knowing the leader, he was perhaps not “thinking” when he said all these things.
TMC MPs are going cashless
Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee was heard moaning that his driver had left him because he did not have cash to pay his salary and the driver refused to take a cheque. A lady journalist who heard this, wrote about it. Next, Banerjee was heard complaining that whatever is said got reported nowadays. Later, the driver was seen to be driving the MP’s car. It seemed that after the publication of the item, Banerjee did not have a choice but to pay his driver in cash. Obviously, TMC MPs are moving towards cashless transactions, whatever Mamata Banerjee might be saying, and hoarding the cash in hand.
Rajan was against demonetisation
The former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan left without doing the demonetisation. In fact, Rajan privately warned of the dire consequences of the move. In fact, when the PM briefed his Cabinet ministers about demonetisation, many had doubts about its success but no one except Nitin Gadkari uttered a word. Gadkari questioned the idea by asking about the implications.
‘The joke could be on Rahul’
Rahul Gandhi’s sudden outburst against the Prime Minister is being seen with a lot of scepticism. MPs in Parliament were heard joking, “If Rahul fails to prove that demonetisation was the biggest scam of the year by Narendra Modi, it would be the biggest joke of the year.”
Jaya mourned in Odisha, MP
Jayalalithaa’s death was mourned by the weavers of Chanderi and Maheshwari saris in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. Jayalalithaa was a great connoisseur of these saris and paid much more than their regular prices to buy these. Her only condition was that the saris would have to be exclusive and she would have to be shown these first before being sold to retailers and individuals. Her death was a personal loss for Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. They were good friends and had interests in books and movies. They would exchange DVDs and novels.