Cool Breeze: Another Congress leader to jump ship?

With the three state elections around the corner in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand, Congress circles are abuzz with speculation that a very senior leader from Haryana would be quitting the party this week. In all probability, sources claim that he will float his own regional outfit as the BJP has indicated that it wants to carry on with Manohar Khattar as its Chief Ministerial face in the state.

Ram Madhav’s counterpoint

As a video of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval meeting locals in Kashmir went viral, Congress leaders claimed that this was a choreographed video to muster support. When asked about this during an interview to NewsX, Ram Madhav pointed out that by that logic should he take statements by sundry Congress leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia to be “choreographed” too, for Scindia has come out in support of the decision to remove Article 370? Ram Madhav added that this shows the Congress mindset whereby it assumes that people are commodities that can be “bought”. Clearly, the Congress needs to fine-tune its strategy and statements, for various Congress leaders have come out in support of the Narendra Modi government’s decision.

Who will be next press secretary to President?

With Ashok Malik having resigned as the press secretary to the President there is much speculation as to who his succeed will be, especially amongst the journalist circles, with two members of the Observer Research Foundation throwing in their hat. But finally it will be the call of the Top Two who are running all things in the government, and in all probability they will opt for someone with a strong RSS background. But watch this space.