Joshi’s Fear
Since the day Sanjay Joshi was sidelined by Modi-Shah duo, he has been celebrating his birthday as a show of strength of sorts. However lately, the response has been rather lukewarm. Rumour has it that people went to some lengths to not keep themselves in Delhi on his birthday, in order to justify their absence. Joshi also got wind of this. Joshi has lately resigned to his fate. He has understood that if leaders like Advani can be sidelined by ModiShah duo, he is but a small fish. Lately, one of his friends in a Facebook and Twitter comment demanded that he be made the chief ministerial candidate in Gujarat. Before this reached party supremo, Joshi himself deleted the comment, and wrote a long excuse suggesting this was done against his wishes. Such fear can be infectious.
Rahul’s Accession
The master-of-event Ghulam Nabi Azad has chosen the date of Rahul’s accession in such a way that it coincides with the opening of the parliamentary session. In between, the results of Gujarat elections will be out, where BJP is expected to get less seats from the previous election. This would be a good time to re-launch Rahul. Consequently, Congress is all set to raise issues pertaining to economy and general misery in the country. A notice has been sent to the Prime Minister to attend the session and give reply to the questions. It is expected that Rahul Gandhi will start the debate on these issues. His maiden speech in the House will be crucial for his image, and no stone has been left unturned to make it as impressive as possible.
Yogi’s Show
UP CM Yogi has insisted that he will fulfil the target of Rs 50,000 crore worth of investments in the state. He also looks extremely enthusiastic about the upcoming programme in this regard. Unlike his predecessor Mayawati and Akhilesh, he is organising the Foreign Investors’ Meet in Lucknow come February. He was under pressure to keep it either in Mumbai or in Delhi, but he put his foot down and had it shifted to Lucknow instead. This has brushed Modi and Jaitley on the wrong side. PMO and Jaitley wanted the programme to be in Delhi so that they can also easily participate in this meet. Jaitley was nursing the dream to be the chief guest there. But in one fell swoop Yogi destroyed his dream and propped his own.
Mahbooba’s Masterstroke
In a masterstroke, Mahbooba Mufti has decided to withdraw cases against those Kashmiris who pelted stones against security personnel. This has endeared her to the youths of the state. This is especially important in the light of the fact that Omar Abdullah did not manage to achieve such an amnesty for the youths. This had made him very unpopular among the youths. But Mahbooba’s decision has not gone down well with spook Ajit Doval. He is of the belief that all these 4,000 youths released from jail will once again start agitating against security personnel. Not to mention, this will send a signal to them that they can act against the security personnel in the future too and get away with it. But the CM has brought state DGP Vaidh to her side, who led the committee that recommended this amnesty. This has brought Vaidh in the crosshairs of the central government
