Grapevine!

Another Rahul-ism

Rahul Gandhi has fled but not before he made another mistake---this time in Punjab. The grapevine says that Punjab Congress leader Amarinder Singh came to Delhi to meet the scion about revving up the party in the state where the BJP-Akali Dal alliance seems to be stretching beyond endurance. First he was kept cooling his heels for about a week, and then given the appointment where he asked Rahul Gandhi to allow him a free hand in the state to deliver ! All said and done Singh is a dynamic leader, and the best that the Congress has in Punjab. But the Congress vice president was not impressed, and told Singh to go back, with a “we will tell you when we decide what we want” kind of message. So there it is, another opportunity lost!



Political Flirtation

Journalists covering Parliament spend the time between boring speeches watching the ‘body language’ of the legislators below. Many a good political hint has come out of the interactions and expressions of the MPs in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. Who sits with whom, who smiles, who scowls all go into what determines political equations, and of course behaviour. Scribes had a lot to say when Rahul Gandhi was discovered sleeping in the back, all borne out by his current disappearance from India. On the first day of the budget session of Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi shed some of the arrogance to greet opposition members in the Lok Sabha, and this was immediately interpreted in the Press Gallery as an indication of a more conciliatory approach because of the many Bills awaiting clearance. But judging from the mood of the opposition since, the smile and the handshake has not worked, so far at least. Little flirtations have been detected in the past, a look here and a smile there, all grist for the bored scribes mill with old timers recalling that MP of yesteryears from UP who used a tin of pan masala to woo the ladies in the Lok Sabha!



Big Brother

Surveillance seems to be the big threat the Modi government is dangling like the proverbial Damocles sword over the head of all who matter. Rumours that even the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is not exempt from it keeps all bureaucrats and ministers on the straight and narrow. The grapevine is abuzz with exaggerated stories of this surveillance, where every move is detected and every conversation followed. Orwell’s Big Brother has so terrified all in government, that again journalists are having a field day cooking up stories, the one more explicit than the other. Latest is that the surveillance is not being carried out by the Intelligence Bureau or any other ‘agency’ for that matter, but by a group of hi tech individuals, sitting ‘somewhere’, with all the equipment possible, and reporting directly to the Prime Minister!! And such is the atmosphere in Delhi that even this improbable story has believers.