The three months long Rhea Chakraborty saga may finally come to an end after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) doused the political fire in Bihar by arresting her. The graph of Rakesh Asthana, DG, NCB has jumped manifold in the eyes of political masters in Delhi. Asthana has succeeded where CBI Director R K Shukla and Enforcement Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra failed in the task even after 50 hours of grilling running for weeks together. A top ED officer who specially flew down from Delhi to Mumbai and part of the extensive grilling told his bosses: Sorry Sir! Not an iota of evidence.” Thus, the NCB stepped in. This column had said last week itself that NCB will arrest Rhea. Insiders tell us that Asthana’s prospects of becoming new CBI chief have brightened when Shukla retires early next year. Asthana had been extremely unhappy ever since he was shunted out from the CBI last year.
The 23 dissident Congress leaders are running for a cover after raising a banner of revolt against the Gandhis. Instead of buckling under the pressure, Congress’ interim president Sonia Gandhi has gone on the offensive. If she shocked dissidents by appointing Rahul loyalists in key parliamentary panels, she humiliated a few by dropping them from UP committees. As if this was not enough, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Rajya Sabha MP and Bihar Campaign Committee chief was dropped from the powerful Bihar Election Committee. If sources are to be believed, the G-23 is a house divided with Mukul Wasnik, Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor singing different tunes. Tewari went public recently saying the letter’s drafting could have been better. Obviously, it’s a dig at Anand Sharma who drafted the letter. Tharoor is buying peace as BJP has no strong presence in Kerala while Mukul Wasnik has his own reasons for backtracking. Prithviraj Chavan who owed his rise to the post of Maharashtra Chief Minister to Sonia Gandhi, has gone into hiding after raising a banner of revolt.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is back at his Krishna Menon Marg residence and recouping after suffering from Covid and fatigue. Being Prime Minister Modi’s Man Friday, Shah has been batting from the front foot. But for the past some time, he has been away from public glare.
The Fly learns that he is fully active and clearing files at a faster pace though avoiding attending office. The gossip mongers in Lutyen’s Delhi have all kinds of tails like Amit Shah being upset for not being invited to the Ram Janmabhoomi foundation stone laying ceremony, appointment of C R Patil as Gujrat BJP chief etc. etc. Insiders assert there is no truth as the equation between the PM-HM remains strong. The PM inquired about his health on a daily basis since August 2 when he was admitted to Medanta and visited him after he returned from AIIMS. These sources say, “Modi-Shah relationship is like that of Ram and Hanuman and no power on Earth can separate them.”
India’s flagship Air India is first on the block among the 26 PSUs to be sold before March 31 next year. While there are many takers for BPCL and others, selling Air India is turning out to be a Herculean task for the Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. It transpires that the House of TATAs is somewhat disinclined. The TATAs already operate Air Asia & Vistara and CEO N Chandrasekaran is reluctant to put in this kind of money in the aviation business. However, two gulf nations have shown interest riding on the back of cordial relations with PM Modi. The government is keen to mop up at least two lakh crores from the PSU sale during 2020-21 to bridge 8% Budget deficit.
