GRAPEVINE: Did PM Modi Make Giriraj Singh Cry?

Crying Minister?

Union Minister Giriraj Singh is not having it very easy these days. And is not just a sad, but probably very confused man as what was acceptable in the BJP earlier seems not to be so today. His rather loud, "If Rajiv Gandhi had married a Nigerian lady and not a white-skinned woman, then would the Congress have accepted her leadership,” statement has got even the Nigerian Embassy here in Delhi to protest. As a result Giriraj Singh had to apologise in Parliament. But as if this was not enough the corridors of Parliament are now abuzz with speculation that Singh was pulled up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And not just pulled up, but castigated to a point where he broke down. Of course Singh denies this, but the rumours continue based on ‘informed sources’.

Scion Does Well

On the other side Congress scion Rahul Gandhi seems to have returned from his long absence, rejuvenated. While this of course does not mean that he is in position to revive the Congress, he does seem to have made a better mark than usual in the first two days of his return. For one he spoke well at teh Kisan rally, and from all accounts the farmers stopped to listen to him and seemed to be impressed with the content of his speech. He then followed it up with an intervention in Parliament that had politicians in central hall of Parliament insisting that he had undergone speech training! But while this may or may not be so, Rahul Gandhi seems to have shed some of his diffidence and is certainly not hesitating to attack PM Modi and the policies of the government. Well lets say, there was enough on display at the Congress end to infuse some hope in the members wondering how to phrase the obituary of the grand old party.

Change of Guard

Finally Sitaram Yechury has made it. A contest has been avoided, and the Party Congress has elected him as the general secretary of the CPI(M). It has not been an easy ascent for Yechury, who is well liked by one section of the party and seen as a little frivolous by the other. He is more of a politician in his social skills than his predecessor Prakash Karat, in that he is able to adjust his language to the constituency he is addressing. He is a good parliamentarian, and has a personal rapport with many MPs in the Congress party that is quite happy with the change of guard in the hope that it will lead to better relations between the two parties. This again is iffy, as the CPI(M) while clear that the main foe is the BJP has also decided to keep a distance from the Congress party and its neo-liberal economic policies. Sad though that the CPI(M) could only add one woman member to its politburo--- the two now being Brinda Karat and Subhashini Ali---although it has been able to reduce the age average in its top body by some astute shuffling this time around.