Delhi Confidential: Unwinding
Sitaram Yechury
While there is considerable excitement and anticipation within the CPM regarding the election of its next general secretary, politburo member Sitaram Yechury, one of the two front-runners for the top post, has been calmly enjoying the beautiful coastal city of Visakhapatnam, which is hosting the five-day party congress. Yechury was seen going for early morning strolls on the Rama Krishna beach on Wednesday and Thursday, before setting off for the long sessions at the party meet.
On request
Rajya Sabha Television has of late begun putting speeches of individual MPs in the Upper House on YouTube. While the MPs are said to be pleased by the move, some of them are learnt to have approached RSTV with a request that they also be given CDs of their speeches to be distributed in their constituencies. RSTV apparently has agreed to provide one CD per speech, and requested the MPs to make copies for distribution.
Special Calls
Worried about the influence of Yogendra Yadav, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal has been personally calling up some well-known faces associated with his party. His calls have been effective and most persons he has spoken to have responded positively to his overtures. Interestingly, the Delhi Chief Minister has been telling them that he is confident of the father-son duo of Shanti and Prashant Bhushan returning to the party. He has been claiming that they have been misled by Yadav and it is only a matter of time they see through his personal ambitions.
Wait continues
With almost every government department showing an interest in using space technologies to improve their efficiencies, ISRO had, sometime back, planned a conference in Delhi to show what kind of space applications were possible and also to listen to the needs of these departments. The conference was supposed to be held in April. The Department of Space, which is directly under Prime Minister’s charge, had agreed to organise the conference. However, with more than half of the month already over, ISRO is still waiting for a date from the PMO. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to be keen to attend the conference, but is apparently finding it difficult to find a time slot.
Familiar Face
Self-proclaimed Congress worker Jagdish Sharma is a familiar sight at all Congress events. Whatever be the occasion, he is almost always there, with a handful of supporters, sometime demanding Priyanka Gandhi’s entry into politics, on other occasions celebrating birthdays of members of the Nehru family. It was only to be expected that he would land at 2, Tughlaq Lane residence of Rahul Gandhi on Thursday when the Congress vice-president returned after a 56-day leave. He, along with his supporters, burst crackers and distributed sweets. Sharma, incidentally, is the same person who, in February, had claimed that Rahul was vacationing at a hill station in Uttarakhand. He had even posted some photographs of Rahul on vacation on his Twitter page. They later turned out to be old photographs.
Source:: Indian Express
