As banks collapse, a star is careworn
The ongoing troubles in Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB) and in Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC) has rattled some top Bollywood actors and filmmakers. An A-lister family reportedly had a credit facility with PSB. The family having four actors at home. is now finding its financial activities severely curtailed. It means that they will have to go ahead and put in own money in the couple fo projects that are in the pipeline. The mega-star’s wife is reluctant to do.
If Lutyens’ lawns grew turncoats...
A Lok Sabha MP from South India has found a solution to stop the exodus of leaders from Congress. He recently, suggested to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi that all the newly elected MPs should be asked to take accommodation only in New Delhi’s Vithalbhai Patel House where suites are allotted to the parliamentarians instead of Lutyens’ bungalows. He said that the Lutyens’ bungalows with its expansive lawns and elite tag is the reason for all Congress miseries. To retain these bungalows alone, the MPs join BJP. To keep the current lot of 54 intact it is essential that they are not given taste of these luxuries he said. Mr Gandhi only had a hearty laugh in response to the suggestion.
No smooth sailing for Rahul’s men
Team Rahul Gandhi is struggling to survive in Sonia Gandhi Congress. Take the case of Sachin Rao, a special invitee to the coveted Congress Working Committee. Rao also heads the party’s training department. But of late, funding to training activities is not as smooth as Rao would have liked. 24, Akbar Road insiders attribute this to some past instances when Rao, as key Rahul aide had an upper hand of sorts. Rao recently came up with a proposal to create “prerak” (inspirational figure). The old guard was quick to rubbish it on two counts.. first it reeked of copying RSS system of Pracharak. At a more sinister level, an AICC functionary pointed out that when D.P. Roy was heading AICC’s training department he had mooted the idea of having “motivators”.
Verdict loses import after bombshell by Board
There is considerable interest in political and legal circles over the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board’s move to look for an out-of-court settlement when arguments in the vexed Babri Masjid Ramjanmabhoomi case in the Supreme Court were virtually over. Those in the know said while its futile to speculate over the verdict, the Sunni Waqf Board’s formulation could play a role once the final judgment is pronounced. Among other things, it was for the first time when a Muslim body, which is also a litigant in the case, has talked about shifting the erstwhile mosque.
Is Devendra Fadnavis’ return inevitable?
Prospects of Devendra Fadnavis returning to power are bright. Fadnavis has already equalled the record of Vasantrao Naik of completing five years in office... a distinction that only two out if 17 chief ministers of Maharashtra managed to achieve since the creation of the state in 1960. Some pollsters and tv news channels were so sure of poll outcome of Maharashtra and Haryana state Assembly polls that they did not opt for opinion polls.
The writer is a keen observer of the goings-on in backrooms of power
