Fly on the Wall
Harish Gupta
The rise and rise of Yogi
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's rising graph as party's star campaigner has ruffled many feathers in the BJP. In the recently concluded assembly polls in five states, he drew unprecedented crowds at his public meetings. After Prime Minister Modi, Yogi was in huge demand as every candidate wanted him to address at least one public meeting in the constituency. Those who traveled extensively in Rajasthan vouch that people throng in large numbers on their own to listen to him as he is seen as a saviour of the Hindus. In Rajasthan, he asked the crowd, “What would have happened to the killers of Kanhaiya had he been in UP?” The crowd roared, “Bulldozer and Goli”. The “Bulldozer Baba” as Yogi is popularly known, has a winning record of almost 85% wherever he went to campaign. The rising graph of Yogi has ruffled many feathers in the party and all kinds of efforts are being made to clip his wings. While PM Modi is highly appreciative of the work Yogi had been doing and often praises Yogi in his tweets. But some senior leaders are unhappy over the trigger happy UP police particularly over the killing of the gangster and politician, Atiq Ahmed. Its a different matter that lips of his detractors have been sealed after the victory in three states. It must be noted that the majority of ministers including the two Deputy Chief Ministers in the Yogi's ministry are among his detractors. Even some of the key officers in the government are not of his choice either. But Yogi found a way to deal with the situation as he would put the minister and bureaucrat face-to-face whenever a complaint is received. He would tell the minister to stop taking bribes causing huge embarrassment. Only recently, a news surfaced on the social media that the Yogi may be fielded from the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat to strengthen Modi's hands in 2024. But there are no takers of the idea given Yogi's role in Modi's Mission-400 seats next year.
Nitish Kumar's baffling saga continues
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar continues to behave in a manner which causes anxiety not only amongst his party colleagues but also in the INDIA partners. As stated in last week's column, his statement in the State Assembly about women's education and population control made last month, brought out his wayward behaviour in public. But there are more stories of Nitish's forgetful behaviour. Once touted as the Opposition's joint Prime Ministerial candidate, Nitish Kumar seems to be losing the plot. He has become forgetful in his day-to-today interactions with colleagues and even at public foras. Unconfirmed reports say that he recently went to the residence of his ministerial colleague Ashok Chaudhary to pay homage to his departed father. Instead of laying the wreath on his father's dead body, Nitish Kumar garlanded Chaudhary to the embarrassment of the entire family and others present. Earlier, he went to the house of another party colleague for a cup of tea and left the house only to return within 30 minutes saying he forgot to take tea. Sources assert that age is fast catching up with Nitish Kumar. He may be having some Neuro issue which crops up slowly. Nitish is 72 years old and medical experts say it may be related to weakening of muscles with age.
Kejriwal in Silent Mode
Capital is agog with reports that the Enforcement Directorate may knock at the doors of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal anytime in January next year. He may be spared during the on-going Parliament's winter session. A cast-iron case has been weaved by the ED as one of the key accused in the Liquor scam case, Amit Katyal, has started singing and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh is also on the verge of cooperating with the agencies. The AAP has suffered a massive setback in the recently concluded Assembly polls where Kejriwal faced humiliating defeat in state after state. In Chhattisgarh, the AAP put up 77 candidates ending up getting merely 0.93%. In Madhya Pradesh also, Kejriwal along with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Singh Mann campaigned extensively and ended up getting merely 0.54% votes. It put up 70 candidates hoping to get at least 10 seats. The AAP put up 88 candidates and ended up its worst showing by getting 0.38% votes.
2005 rule dug out to tame Mps
The TMC Lok Sabha MP, Mahua Moitra's alleged “cash for query” case has opened a Pandora's box for parliamentarians of both houses. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar was quick to invoke the UPA era's 2005 Code of Conduct for Rajya Sabha Mps. The Chairman of the Rajya Sabha invoked the Code of Conduct prohibiting Mps to take hospitality abroad from private persons/companies/foreign governments without bringing it to the notice/permission of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Rajya Sabha secretariat. The Code of Conduct rules were issued in 2005 but the same were never implemented due to the fragile nature of the coalition government of Dr Manmohan Singh. The rules asked Mps to inform both the MEA and the Union Home Ministry before accepting any invitation from foreign source and traveling abroad even on a personal trip. While the Rajya Sabha Mps are shocked over tightening of rules & procedures for foreign visits, the Lok Sabha secretariat is under pressure to implement similar rules for its 545 Mps. Surprisingly, the Lok Sabha has no such Code of Conduct for its Mps so far. Mahua Moitra, in a sense, was right when she said that she was not aware of the existence of any such code of conduct. It transpires that the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha may now come out with such code shortly.
