How to put on a brave face amid defeat
Some missing in action
A waiting defeat is not easy. Till the final 24 hours before the actual verdict, Union home minister and party supremo Amit Shah was confident that the BJP would get 41 Assembly seats in the national capital. Each leading exit pollster got a call where searching questions were asked. The BJP built a template of a “late surge” claiming that the exit polls were conducted before 3 pm on the polling day. But there were no long queues at most polling stations in Delhi at any point of time. When the results were announced, senior and vocal ministers went into hiding: Ravi Shankar Prasad, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Prakash Javadekar were missing. The likes of Sudhanshu Trivedi and Shahnawaz Hussain valiantly tried to defend what was indefensible. Party insiders say it is a pattern of sorts. In good times, Mukhtar, Prasad and Javadekar are there to articulate the government and party’s stand, but in adverse circumstances, Trivedi and Hussain are left to do the honours.
Contrarian Sharmistha
C ongress circles are intrigued over why Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmistha decided to take on former finance minister and party bigwig P. Chidambaram. Her tweet questioning Chidambaram’s sense of satisfaction over the Delhi verdict came well past midnight. A section of Congressmen wonder whether Sharmistha was aware of her father’s track record in Bengal politics where the Congress turned from bad to worse when Pranabda was calling the shots in the party. Perhaps the former President was not even aware of what his daughter was up to.
Cops in a tizzy
S ome BJP MPs had a difficult time during the Delhi Assembly polls. As per the high command’s directive, many BJP MPs were asked to campaign in Delhi, distribute pamphlets and even stay put in the slums and rural Delhi areas. A former state unit chief took the directive seriously and went to a slum near R.K. Puram. Unfortunately for him, some hooligans were there claiming proximity to a political outfit. When the MP tried arguing, they turned physical and the matter went off hand. Both sides rushed to the nearest police station but the sleepy policemen could not believe that a parliamentarian was the aggrieved party. A call was made to a bigwig at an unearthly hour and after his intervention, the MP got some reprieve, as well as the upper hand.
A regard for ‘Swamynomics’
O verheard in Parliament: There are only two persons with a PhD in economics in the Rajya Sabha — one is Subramanian Swamy and the second Narendra Jadhav. A Cong MP was heard saying that he will move a point of order because every time the house is discussing financial matters, Subramaniam Swamy is missing. Swamy is generating lot of interest in the BJP too. On the day of the Delhi voting, Swamy predicted AAP’s victory due to the Union budget “googly”!
Bye, Shaheen Bagh?
D elhi elections are over and there are signs of the Shaheen Bagh protests being called off. Arvind Kejriwal does not want to take the lead because he has nothing to offer the protesters while Union Home Minister Amit Shah has made it clear that there will be no negotiation. Local Congress and AAP politicians are claiming to have little or no influence over protesters. All eyes are therefore on the Supreme Court. There is a near consensus that if the apex court asks Shaheen Bagh protesters to end their stir, the road linking south Delhi to Noida will be cleared.
Achchhe din!
I n media circles in the national capital, there is a sense of anticipation. The Union government is reportedly planning to loosen its purse strings for advertisements, etc. Many major media houses have not been getting sarkari ads but now the government seems to be veering round to the view to let everyone get ads as per established conventions.