Power dressing and power cuts

It is customary for the office of a new PM or Prez to release an official photograph of the leader to be put up in government offices and for other official purposes. But it is unprecedented for a political party to send out photographs of its president, asking newspapers that these be used. This is what happened last week when Delhi-based dailies got an unusual email from the BJP’s central media cell. It had five photographs of BJP president Amit Shah with a short message saying they were sending new pictures of their party chief and that these may be carried by the newspapers.

Except for one photograph which shows a serious-looking Mr Shah standing with his hands folded across his chest, all the others portray a genial and smiling BJP president. Mr Shah has obviously been inspired by his long-time friend Modi regarding his clothes. He has teamed up his white kurta with colourful jackets in different hues — pale maroon, electric blue and pista green.
Nobody is sure why the BJP chief felt the need to send out these studio portraits. May be, he was unhappy that the pictures carried by newspapers did not do justice to him.  Whatever be the case, I’m now scanning newspapers to see which one uses these studio shots.

An invitation for a media interaction with the PM usually goes out from his media adviser or the PIB. But editors who were invited to 7, Race Course Road last week for an informal chit-chat session with Prime Minister Modi, did not get their invitation from the PIB or from the PMO. Instead, it was Gujarat’s resident commissioner in Delhi, Bharat Lal, who called up the editors informing them about the meeting. This immediately sparked off speculation that the officer may be inducted into the PMO as
Mr Modi’s media adviser.

An IFS officer, Mr Lal has been a key member of Team Modi for several years now. In fact, Mr Lal was among the first officers to move to the PMO after Mr Modi shifted to Delhi in May. His nameplate was even put up outside the PMO in Parliament House. But for some mysterious reason, the nameplate soon disappeared and Mr Lal went back as Gujarat resident commissioner. Talk about his re-entry to the PMO has revived after he was given the task of inviting the editors for the meeting with Mr Modi. This is particularly so since Mr Modi has not appointed a media adviser so far. The buzz is that Mr Modi does not want a journalist but a bureaucrat for this job. That’s because a journo may ask questions, or, worse, have friends who seek answers.

Several NDA ministers are eyeing the Race Course Road bungalow occupied by former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan for almost a decade. But HRD minister Smriti Irani is said to be a top contender for this all-time favourite property. Although it is not as large as some of the other ministerial bungalows, this is a much-sought-after place primarily because it is a stone’s throw from the PM’s official residence. Ministers obviously believe that living in close quarters with Prime Minister Modi will give them greater access to him.
Mr Chavan, who was allotted this bungalow as minister in the Manmohan government, is yet to hand over the property to the urban development ministry. Apparently, he did make a quick trip to Delhi over a week ago but could not vacate the bungalow as he was not well.

Former Union minister Kapil Sibal is learnt to have made a strong pitch with the Congress leadership for a RS seat from UP when the elections to the Upper House were recently announced. Apparently, there was a hue and cry in the Congress when word got out that Mr Sibal had made a bid for the UP seat. Some angry leaders are even said to have dashed off protest letters against his nomination. Eventually, Mr Sibal lost out to former bureaucrat and dalit leader P.L. Punia who was chosen as the Congress candidate after SP leader Mulayam pledged his party’s surplus votes to him.

Mr Sibal is now trying to enter the Rajya Sabha from Uttarakhand, but here again he faces stiff competition from former Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik who is also lobbying hard for a nomination to the RS. With few favours to dole out, it’s no surpass that the Congress high command is being very choosy.

The writer is a Delhi-based journalist