Delhi Confidential : New Address

Work in progress at Rajnath Singh‘s Akbar Road residence

Although he was preparing for shifting to a new house for a while, moving to 17 Akbar Road on Friday was a emotional moment for Home Minister Rajnath Singh. For last 19 years and a month, the bungalow at 38 Ashoka Road has been his residence which has witnessed all major milestones in his political career. Rajnath was allotted that house in February 1996 when he was a Rajya Sabha MP. He became UP BJP chief in 1997, UP Chief Minister in 2000, Union minister twice and BJP president two times while he was the resident of that house. The Home Minister was apparently very particular that he would move into the new house only during Navratri.

WORKING WEEKEND

With the financial year ending on Tuesday, many ministries have issued orders asking department heads and those entrusted the task of using available funds to come to office on Saturday and Sunday to take care of emergent office work. After receiving the order, a government officer was heard questioning the rationale of the order, saying, “It seems the government wants to use all available finances for the current fiscal before the end of this year.”

IN LIGHTER VEIN

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s prolonged leave of absence is increasingly becoming a matter of much amusement. During the routine press briefing of the Congress on Friday, several journalists asked spokesperson Rita Bahuguna Joshi when Rahul will be back and if he had “extended” his leave. “He will come back soon. His is not a government job,” Joshi quickly responded, eliciting laughter from everyone.

FRESH ASSIGNMENT

Vikram Kumar Doraiswami, India’s ambassador to Uzbekistan, has now been named as the next envoy to South Korea. Doraiswami, who was private secretary to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, went to Tashkent about six months ago. While it is unusual for an envoy to be moved within six months, he is rated quite highly by South Block for his handling of the relations with the US in the past year-and-half. It was during his watch, as Joint Secretary (Americas) in the Ministry of External Affairs, that the Devyani Khobragade incident took place, and he, along with Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, worked towards repairing the relationship. PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the US was his last assignment before he moved to Uzbekistan.

DELHI BELLY

Ajit Doval has taken on terrorist networks, underworld syndicates and external security and strategic concerns during his career, but it seems even the National Security Adviser can be done in by the Delhi Belly. Doval was the keynote speaker at a seminar titled ‘The Growth Net — creating new drivers of growth’ at a five-star hotel in New Delhi on Friday. After Doval delivered his speech and fielded questions, the host thanked him for agreeing to attend the event “despite the fact that he has been quite unwell for the past 24 hours with food poisoning”.

Source:: Indian Express