The announcement of Rajya Sabha names by the Samajwadi Party may or may not have led to fireworks in Lucknow but party leaders agree that once the members start attending the Upper House, fireworks are bound to take place. “The Monsoon Session of the Rajya Sabha will have less water and more fire since that is when these members will start attending the Upper House,” quipped a senior minister in the SP shortly after the list was announced.
The reason for this apprehension is the hostile relations that Amar Singh has shared with the likes of Beni Prasad Verma, Ram Gopal Yadav and Jaya Bachchan in recent years. All these leaders have issued unprintable and even derogatory statements against each other and now that all of them will be under one roof, sparks are bound to fly. A Rajya Sabha MP from the SP said, “Mr Yadav has obviously bitten off more than he can chew and it will be tough making all his members remain cordial with each other.”
Didi's befitting reply
For the past three months, a shrill campaign was carried out against Mamata Banerjee and her party by Opposition parties. Since in journalism, bad news is good news, the media lapped up everything Surjya Kanta Mishra, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury or Sidharth Nath Singh said about the ruling party in West Bengal. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury visited West Bengal and launched scathing attacks against Didi and her party leaders.
In March the Opposition got more “lethal ammunition” in the shape of the Narada sting video footage and the Vivekananda Road flyover crash. Ms Banerjee and other Trinamul Congress leaders were undoubtedly on the backfoot. Towards the last phase of the campaign, at a couple of rallies, overcome by emotion, Didi even told voters that if they thought that she had done some wrong then they could slap her.
Ms Banerjee often rued the fact that all the development work her government had done and the various social security schemes it launched for the poor were overshadowed by the Opposition’s noisy canards on corruption. Didi often warned the Opposition that the people did not like the venom that they were spewing and that they would get a befitting reply for this. Thursday’s landslide victory proved that Ms Banerjee’s confidence in the people of West Bengal was not misplaced. As TMC vice-president Mukul Roy said, “It’s not just victory: it is vindication.”
Elections ultimate tests
Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik neither addresses any press conferences nor does he speak much in the state Assembly. He just reads out written speeches prepared by his officers. In the recently-concluded Budget Session, when the Opposition stalled the Assembly for days demanding the scalp of food supplies minister Sanjay Kumar Das Burma after the latter was summoned by the CBI for his alleged links with the multi-crore chit-fund scam, Mr Patnaik did not speak a word.
The Congress and BJP leaders fired salvos at Mr Patnaik saying he was harbouring a tainted and corrupt minister. Unperturbed, the ruling BJD adjourned the House sine die. Angered by this, the Congress and BJP leaders called a series of press conferences and alleged that Mr Patnaik had killed democracy by adjourning the House. In a damage control bid, the ruling BJD released two pages of advertisements in all leading newspapers detailing its successes.
Mr Patnaik, who has won Assembly polls consecutively four times since 2000, posted those two-page advertisements in his Facebook page with a remark that in a democracy elections are the ultimate tests of the faith of people. Teased and taunted, the Opposition is looking for the next move to nail Mr Patnaik.
PM got it right this time
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is known for his use of social media tools to connect with the masses and also with leaders from across the country and across the globe. He is often seen wishing senior leaders on their birthdays.
About three months ago, he had given birthday greetings to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on a wrong date. However, this was corrected by Mr Modi last week when he wished Mr Ghani on the correct date, May 19.
“Happy Birthday President @ashrafghani... Got the date right this time. :),” Mr Modi tweeted. Mr Ghani responded saying: “@narendramodi Bahut dhanyavaad Mr PM. It’s always a delight to hear from such dear friend of mine and a strong supporter of our people.” The faux pas had led to the trolling of Mr Modi on the social media.
