Information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari appears to be having a run of bad luck. He first opted out of the Lok Sabha election when the Congress leadership did not permit him to change his constituency and now the Election Commission is not allowing him to enjoy his last few weeks in his ministry. Last week, the Election Commission played spoilsport when it directed that Mr Tewari could not preside over the special function for the distribution of the national photo awards as the Model Code of Conduct was in place.
After this diktat, the I&B ministry has been left wondering if Mr Tewari would be permitted to personally host the National Film awards function to be held at the Vigyan Bhavan early next month. The ministry officials are particularly nervous as it would be bad form if Mr Tewari is not present because President Pranab Mukherjee is the chief guest at this prestigious programme. Faced with protocol issues, the ministry is planning to ask the Election Commission that Mr Tewari be given permission to be seated on the dais with the promise that he will not make any policy announcements in his speech.
At a time when several senior Congress leaders from Tamil Nadu, including finance minister P. Chidambaram, were opting out of the electoral fray, former Union minister and Rajya Sabha member Mani Shankar Aiyar was unusually eager to contest the coming Lok Sabha polls. The irrepressible Congress loyalist, Mr Aiyar, set up shop in his constituency Mayiladuthurai and kickstarted his election campaign well before the party announced his candidature.
Mr Aiyar even incurred the wrath of the local Congress leaders who complained about his campaign when he had not been given a ticket by the party. Never at a loss of words, Mr Aiyar shot back, saying he was not campaigning for himself but for the Congress and nobody could stop him from doing so.
Now that he has been officially named by the party, Mr Aiyar has intensified his campaign, undeterred by the fact that the Congress is on a weak wicket in Tamil Nadu. In fact, his enthusiasm is worrying his aides, who have issued a list of “DOs and don’ts” to the outspoken Mr Aiyar. He has been specially told not to make any derisive comments about his own party leaders who had decided to sit out this election.
The Congress has acquired the reputation of being a nocturnal party. Most of its meetings are conducted in the dead of night while its official announcements are invariably made late, much to the annoyance of mediapersons who are always racing against deadlines at night. While complaints by press-persons have gone unheeded, the party recently realised the perils of making last minute, late night decisions. Congress office-bearers were informed late on Holi-eve that party president Sonia Gandhi would be happy to receive them and partake in the festivities at her official residence next morning. Since most party functionaries received the message close to midnight and had already made prior plans, the attendance at Mrs Gandhi’s Holi party was predictably thin.
Except for a sprinkling of All-India Congress Committee secretaries and Congress treasurer Motilal Vora, few senior leaders were present.
The small gathering was quickly assembled around Mrs Gandhi in a tight group when a television news channel turned up for a shot so as to give the impression that the festivities were well attended.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, has gone out his way to keep yoga guru Ramdev in good humour as he can influence his large following to support him in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Last year Mr Modi paid a special visit to Ramdev’s ashram in Hardwar and again dropped in at his yoga camp at Delhi’s Ramlila grounds last week when he heard that Ramdev was upset as his choice of candidates had not been accommodated.
However, the BJP was clearly taken up by Ramdev’s suggestion that its fiery orator and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Uma Bharti, be pitted against Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli. Ms Bharti has no choice but to accept the party’s decision but she is said to be hopping mad as she believes she is being kicked around like a proverbial football. It was initially suggested that Ms Bharti be fielded from Hardwar as she had led a “Save Ganga” campaign in Uttarakhand. When she refused, it was proposed that she should contest the Faizabad seat in Uttar Pradesh given her dominant role in the Ayodhya movement.
More recently, there was a suggestion that she should be fielded from Bhopal after senior party leader L.K. Advani decided in favour of Gandhinagar and not the Madhya Pradesh capital as he had earlier desired.
Now that Ms Bharti has been officially nominated from Jhansi, she is being told about Ramdev’s proposal. With her name being proposed from five constituencies in as many weeks, Ms Bharti has every reason to feel aggrieved.
