Cool Breeze: Sending the right optics

SENDING THE RIGHT OPTICS

Last week saw a round of lunch diplomacy in the national capital, with Praful Patel, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Jayant Sinha, Vijay Goel and K.J. Alphons hosting get-togethers. Piyush Goel, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Bhupender Yadav were seen at Rudy’s, discussing the Ram temple and triple talaq. Despite many sceptical looks from journalists, Piyush Goel stuck to his prediction that the BJP would win 300 seats in the coming general elections. The gathering at Praful Patel’s house saw many Opposition leaders coming together, from Ahmed Patel to Sitaram Yechury, Dinesh Trivedi, Derek O’Brien, D. Raja, Farooq Abdullah, Satish Mishra, Neeraj Shekhar, Jaya Bachchan and of course both Sharad Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule. As the media cajoled them for a photo shoot, the leaders obliged. After all this was the season for sending out the right optics.

SEASON FOR ‘SCAMS’

The Congress is in an upbeat mood after the Rafale debate in Parliament, for as Sushmita Dev, the feisty Mahila Congress chief explains, it has successfully conveyed to the public that the Supreme Court did not give a clean chit to the government. Moreover, as a party MP explained. forget the details, what the public needs to understand is Rafale equals corruption and profit for only one business leader. Clearly, with Rahul taking the lead on this, he is in a mood to pay the BJP back, allegation for allegation, whether it’s Agusta Westland or Bofors.

WHAT NEXT?

The Health Minister faced an interesting question in Parliament last week when he was asked to list out the steps taken by the government for “treatment of people suffering from selfie disorders”. Clearly, that’s a telling commentary on the mobile fixated, somewhat narcissistic times we live in.