Delhi Confidential: The makeover

Manohar Parrikar in Tokyo.

His attire may not create the kind of waves Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s suit did. But Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s bandhgala in his first overseas visit has been quite a talk of South Block over the past week. Parrikar, who is known to dress up simply in untucked half-sleeve shirts and ethnic footwear even during the most formal defence functions, was for the first time seen wearing a black bandhgala while shaking hands with Japanese foreign minister. And while the Defence Ministry was curious about the makeover, officials in the know gave the “after-all-he-is-the-Defence-Minister” kind of response to queries.

RAISING DAY

For the first time in its history, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) will hold its raising day function next week. BCAS was made into an independent wing in 1987. The security wing has been headless for more than two years now due to tussle between the Civil Aviation Ministry and Ministry of Home Affairs.

NO BREAK

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah sitting on stage, from where they could see the entire hall, no party functionary attending the BJP national executive in Bangalore wanted to risk going out for a break when the discussions were on. More so, because the exit door was right next to the dais. No one wanted to be seen

as not taking active interest in the meeting. The result was that a sight-seeing programme organised by the Karnataka unit of the party for delegates turned out to be almost a no-show.

REACHING OUT

After celebrating the 125th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress is gearing up to celebrate the 125th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar in a big way. The grand old party rarely organises huge events to mark birth anniversaries of leaders outside the Nehru-Gandhi family. The party has set up a 21-member panel, headed by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, to draw up year-long programmes to mark the event. While Rahul had been making an attempt to reach out to the Dalit community — with his much publicised sleepovers at Dalit homes — the moves have drawn little electoral mileage. Ambedkar remains the undisputed Dalit icon, the plan to celebrate his birth anniversary is seen as yet another attempt to reach out to the Dalit community.

Source:: Indian Express