Rahul Gandhi will be the new AICC general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh replacing Digvijay Singh. Recovering from his defeat in UP Rahul has refused to take on more responsibilities in the party before he revives the Congress in Uttar Pradesh. In the wake of the UP results, Rahul is supposed to have withdrawn him self from important decisions in the party. He is not giving appointment to anyone outside UP. Despite pressure from Sonia Gandhi to share her burden, he is no more taking interest in party functioning. Rahul has also refused to campaign in the forth coming election in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh like the way he did In UP. The party may not be admitting it but Rahul in his bid to save his advisers Kanishka Singh and Digvijay Singh, has taken the blame on himself. The party is however opposed to any such thing. The party managers are dithering over replies on Rahul’s next plan of action. A move is also on to replace Digvijay Singh with Satyavrata Chaturvedi as the party general secretary in charge of UP. But the final say would be with no other than Rahul Gandhi.
PENDING CASE STANDS IN THE WAY OF MULAYAM BECOMING PM
Mulayam Singh Yadav should watch out. If he dreams big that would be the end of his political ambitions. The CBI can revive his DA case. Mulayam may be nursing the ambition of becoming the Prime Minister of India but according to the Congress leaders, he can neither become PM or President or even Vice President. Mulayam cannot hold any constitutional post as he has a disproportionate assets case pending against him. According to a senior Congress leader, poor Jaffer Sharief could not become ambassador of Saudi Arabia or even a Governor because he had a corruption case against him. As long as this case is there against Mulayam pending, he can not be the Prime Minister.
JAVED USMANI IS A MULAYAM LOYALIST
The 1978 batch IAS officer ‘Javed Usmani who was made the chief secretary of the country’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh was not the first choice of Mulayam Singh Yadav. Before Usmani, Mulayam Singh had approached Arun Kumar Mishra. when Mishra refused, Desh Deepak Verma of 1978 batch was approached. When he too refused, then only Usmani was approached. Usmani too was initially reluctant before he agreed on the condition to be given a free hand. Mulayam Singh Yadav has handed his son in the hands of his trusted officers. The most powerful lady in UP is the 1990 batch IAS Anita Singh who is secretary to the CM. All work allotment files are routed through her to the Chief Minister. After taking charge, a controversy was sparked when she occupied the room of Sashank Shekhar Singh but later had to vacate it after the controversy broke. But the room is still kept vacant. If the buzz in Lucknow is to be believed, then she will occupy that room once she gets promoted. Anita was equally powerful during the regime of Mulayam Singh Yadav Her husband Subhash Chandra has been appointed IG Lucknow zone.
RAJPUT LOBBY BACKING ARMY CHIEF V K SINGH
The army chief V K Singh has high political ambitions. Working on the line of former Rajput Prime Minister V P Singh, he plans to contest from his home state in Haryana. The question now making rounds in Parliament and the media is that which forces are backing the Army chief particularly after the BJP which was initially backing him, has backed out realizing the sensitivity of the matter. But he does have sympathisers in the Rajput lobby. Rajput MPs cutting across party lines are looking at him as another V P Singh in the making. Jagdambika Pal, the Congress MP from Domaryaganj in Uttar Pradesh was heard grumbling to the media “The Rajputs have no place in this government. They don’t have any Rajput minister. Now there is a Rajput army chief they are even harassing him”. They are making another V P Singh said another Rajput MP of another party. Ratna Singh, the Pratapgarh MP had even met the PM to lobby in his favour during his age row. The first ever interview he gave was not to Hindu but a Rajput journalist Santosh Bharatiya on ETV. Bharatiya besides being a Rajput himself has always been a lobbyist of Rajput politicians. He not only supported VP Singh against Rajiv Gandhi but he even became an MP when VP became PM. Bharatiya was equally close to Vir Bahadur Singh.
KAPIL SIBAL PROMOTING HIS POETRY BOOK IN DELHI COLLEGES
Kapil Sibal is using his ministerial authority as HRD minister to promote his poems. Having failed to get a market for his close to the heart hobby of writing poems, he is now imposing his poetry sessions and his book ‘My World Within’, on students of colleges and universities. He recently got a session organised in a Delhi college to recite some of his poetry. He even had a poetry session organised at the residence of the Delhi University and Jamia Millia University Vice Chancellors residences. If teachers and students of these collages and universities are to be believed, they are under pressure to buy his poetry book.
SHARAD YADAV JOINS PRESIDENTIAL RACE
The queue for President of India aspirant is just becoming big and longer. Joining the race with Hamid Ansari, Pranab Mukherjee, A K Antony Meira Kumar Mohsina Kidwai Abdul Kalam and Gopal Krishna Gandhi is the new addition of the JD(U) President Sharad Yadav. Yadav a Madhya Pradesh resident but an MP from Bihar sees no future in Nitish Kumar led Janata Dal. He has attained the maximum. So why not the President of India. His argument is that there has been Muslim Presidents, Dalits from South. Upper castes from northern India but no one from OBC category. He is the face of the Mandal and will be supported by both the left and the right. He is also banking on the pro Mandal forces cutting across party lines. He is depending on L K Advani for support. But the other inheritor of the Mndal legacy- Mulayam Singh Yadav has other ideas. Mulayam is likely to strengthen his own support base of a Muslim as President and his cousin Ram Gopal Yadav as Vice President. The name of the present chief election commissioner Syed Yaqub Qureishi is in circulation in Samajwadi Party circles for the Presidential position also
AZAD GIVES NO ASSURANCE ON SEPARATE TELENGANA
There is no guarantee that there would be a Telengana, this is what the AIOO General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad in charge of Andhra Pradesh told the pro Telengana MPs when he met them on Tuesday to work out truce with them after they disrupted the Lok Sabha proceedings.. Azad was summoned by a harried Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee seeking his help to smoothen the feelings of the pro Telengana MPs. When Azad met the MPs they were just livid over the recent remarks of the party spokespersons particularly that of Renuka Choudhury who said that Telengana was not instant coffee. They even told that they have been told by N. Rajagopalthat there would be no Telengana. . Who is Rajagopal? I am the general secretary, have I ever told you that there will be no Telengana. But I am not guaranteeing that there would be a Telengana. All that I am saying is that Telengana issue is not a closed chapter. Threatening in a veiled manner that they can lose their membership he reminded them that their importance remains only till they are in the party. We can always sit for talks whenever we want. The furious Telengana MPs questioned the futility of further talks and asked him what the party can offer them. Finally an agreement was reached upon that they would not stall the smooth passage of the various finance bills during the budget session. This came as a heavy relief for Pranab Mukherjee who waited anxiously for Azad in his room ready with an alternative contingency plan if things failed to work out in their favour. (IPA)
