Already angry with the BJP for its unnecessary display of arrogance, its allies are now upset as they have not been included in the list of ministers slated to address press conferences in the capital to highlight the NDA government’s achievements on the completion of its first year in office.
Minister of food processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal and minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution Ram Vilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party, who were keen on briefing the media in Delhi, held separate press conferences before the formal anniversary celebrations kicked off on May 22.
The list finalised by finance minister Arun Jaitley, who is also the I&B minister, appears to have overlooked other allies like the Shiv Sena and Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party. Not just allies, even BJP ministers are said to be sulking. Transport minister Nitin Gadkari was also keen on addressing the media but was asked to go to Jaipur instead. When he requested that he could hold the press conference in his hometown Nagpur, he was not allowed to do so.
Ever since Congress VP Rahul Gandhi took everybody by storm on his return from the 57-day sabbatical, there is a renewed scramble in the party to catch his eye. Senior leaders have developed a sudden interest in social media and many of them, including party general secretary Ambika Soni, have taken to Twitter, while others are on Facebook now that it is becoming increasingly clear that Mr Gandhi could take over as president by this year-end.
A number of senior leaders were making frantic phone calls to the party’s communication department to get their names included in the list of speakers to address press conferences to counter the Modi government’s claims on its first anniversary. Even younger party members have become more active in their bid to become visible. Instead of “outsiders”, Sanjay Jha and Tehseen Poonawalla, the Congress is now increasingly represented by its own members — Jyotiraditya Scindia and C.P. Joshi — in television debates. It remains to be seen if their efforts will pay off and whether they will find a place in Mr Gandhi’s team.
Now that he is no longer in the spotlight, former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan thought he could happily return to a life of anonymity. He was convinced that people and the media would have no time for an ordinary MLA. But he is now discovering how wrong he was. For instance, when his domestic help lost his mobile phone on a local train recently, Mr Chavan suggested that he file a report with the police. However, he did not realise that a routine matter would be blown up by a local tabloid which ran a news report saying that the Mumbai Police had put important investigations on the back-burner after it was pressured by Mr Chavan to find his servant’s mobile.
Mr Chavan was predictably bewildered as this was far from the truth. He found himself in an embarrassing situation on another occasion when he was suddenly surrounded by a group of excited mobile-wielding travellers who were photographing him when they spotted him ferrying his own luggage at an airport. Little wonder then that Mr Chavan enjoys being back in Delhi as he is able to go about restaurant without being recognised or written about.
When former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee headed the standing committee on IT in his avatar as an MP, he had suggested that it might be useful to invite experts to brief panel members on technical issues as that would enable them to improve their understanding and ask the right questions from officers. However, this proposal was immediately rejected by the BJP, which was convinced that Mr Chatterjee would use this opportunity to smuggle in experts with Left leanings.
Mr Chatterjee tried to convince BJP leaders that they need not fear the proposal as there was no ideology involved in technical subjects, but they refused to budge. That’s why it is interesting that current LS Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is planning to revive this proposal. She recently told the media that she was thinking of setting up a group of experts to help lawmakers understand complex issues, so that they can make a meaningful contribution in committee meetings and parliamentary debates. It appears that the old opposition based on ideology is now history.
The writer is a Delhi-based journalist
