Periscope

Wooing partners

The UPA which is rapidly losing its alliance partners, Trinamul, DMK is now trying desperately to woo the  NDA partners. The government is going all way out to lure the Janata Dal (united) to its fold. After the  Finance Minister, P Chidambaram assured that the Centre would pump fund into the Bihar chief minister,  Nitish Kumar’s pet project Nalanda University, now the UPA is considering to give Bihar the “backward”  status. The BJP leader, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, however, said that “in Bihar, there is a strong BJP-JD(U)  government. We are preparing for the Lok Sabha elections… Irrespective of what the Central government  thinks, Bihar deserves (financial) support and it should not be based on politics.”

Foot-in-the-mouth syndrome

The home minister, Sushilkumar Shinde is now getting famous for his foot in mouth disease. In January,  2013 at the Congress’s Jaipur Chintan Shivir, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde accused the main Opposition party BJP and the RSS, a volunteer organisation of conducting ‘training camps’ to spread what  he called ‘saffron terrorism’ in the country. Later he was forced to retract. In December 2012,  Sushilkumar Shinde announced that a decision on the Telangana stalemate would be taken within a  month. This put the Government in a tough position. He went on to brand  those  protesting against the  Delhi rape as “Maoists.” The Home Minister was replying to a debate on the Assam violence when Jaya Bachchan said that the minister was not responding to specific questions raised by members. This is when Shinde snubbed her by saying, “This is a serious matter. This is not the subject of a film.” The minister was  forced to apologise for his remarks. In September, 2012 after the controversy over the coal block allotment  Sushilkumar Shinde said, “Such controversies come and go. Earlier, there was the controversy regarding  Bofors, but it faded away. No one remembers the petrol pump allotment issue today. The statement was  highly embarrassing for the Congress party which was surrounded by scams on all sides like the 2G, Coal, Adarsh and CWG scams. Sushilkumar Shinde in December 2012 during his Parliamentary address  called 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed with the honourable addresses of ‘Shri’ and ‘Mr’. In March 2013, Shinde caused an outrage in the Parliament as a written statement issued by the Ministry of Home  Affairs mentioned the name of the three victims of the Bandhara rape and murder. However, Shinde later  retracted the statement and said, “I have withdrawn my statement. Even the Rajya Sabha Deputy Speaker  has expunged the statement. I have also asked the secretary to inquire into this matter. Please let the  matter rest now.”  And now after the consent age for sex has been retained at 18, Shinde suddenly said  that he had cited the 153-year-old IPC to defend his proposal for lowering the consent age for sex to 16  years.  Something is wrong somewhere with Shinde, who is handling such a sensitive ministry.

Leaders confused

The Congress is seemed to become a party of confused leaders. While on one hand the party’s icon, Rahul  Gandhi says that he is not interested to become Prime Minister, his loyalists start claiming that he has  never said anything like this. Congress leader and Rahul’s friend Digvijay Singh cautioned against  the view that Rahul Gandhi is not interested to be the Prime Minister.   Singh said, “ Rahul Gandhi has  not said no anywhere. What is being reported in the press has caused some misconception. If the people  of the country want, then why won’t he be the Congress’ candidate for PM?”  Rahul Gandhi had earlier  said that his focus was to build his party, not to be Prime Minister. Congress general secretary Digvijay  Singh points out that this in no way means that Rahul Gandhi has said no to being PM. Digvijay Singh,  who has virtually lost all his popularity in his home State, Madhya Pradesh has emerged as Rahul’s  mouthpiece. This is also Congress attempt to show that Rahul is not interesed to be the PM and but what can  he do if the people want. And Digvijay’s people of course is confined to the band of Congress leaders and  functionaries.

Rahul fails in Tripura too

After failing to oust the Left from Tripura, Rahul Gandhi  has again embarked on mission UP. Of course  the
Congress’ mascot has forgotten the drubbing his party got after he and his entire family campaigned in  the State during the last Assembly polls. Rahul Gandhi is now all set to hit the political trail in Uttar  Pradesh after the budget session, a move that may resume hostilities with Samajwadi Party even as chief  minister Akhilesh Yadav threatened to pull the plug on UPA next month. However, the SP is not at all  worried about his campaign. “More he campaigns, more Congress will lose ground,” an SP leader said.

Trinamul in demand

A section of the UPA managers are now trying to woo the Trinamul Congress supremo, Mamata Banerjee  to return to its fold. Feelers were being sent to “Didi”  from the top Congress quarters. There were  rumours that union minister, Kamal Nath had recently spoken to Ms Banerjee and urged her to consider  the option of returning to UPA. Some feel a majority section of the Trinamul leaders are also in favour of  Mamata returning to UPA. There are also indications that Trinamul could again join hands with the  Congress during the 2014 general elections.