Poonam Mahajan
The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha ( BJYM), the BJP’s youth wing, organised a massive rally in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh for its visiting national chief Poonam Mahajan last week. While the crowd brought cheer to party’s state unit, there was one detail that raised brows. Mahajan’s predecessor Anurag Thakur, who hails from the state, was not on the dais although he was in the state at the time. Sensing that it may create needless controversy, Mahajan and Gaurav Tiwari, the BJYM in-charge of Himachal, sought to claim that they had invited Thakur. They did not divulge whether the Yuva Morcha state unit had tried to inform Thakur in advance for this event or he was deliberately kept out so that the local unit could flaunt its strength before its national chief, independent of Thakur.
Rahul’s Next Trip
Rahul Gandhi is abroad and is expected to return in the next few days. His first public appearance after his return would be on Monday when he will address a workers’ meeting in Gujarat. But even before he has returned, news of his next foreign trip has come. Rahul would travel to the US to give a lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, on September 11. He lecture is themed “India At 70: Reflections On The Path Forward” and is sponsored by the Institute of International Studies and the Institute for South Asia Studies. The university said Rahul will offer his reflections on contemporary India. It has also mentioned that his great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru had delivered a speech at Berkeley in 1949.
Poring Over The News
BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav is a meticulous reader of newspapers. While reading the papers every morning he also takes notes — a throwback from his time as a lawyer. However, he also makes it a point to destroy those diaries every six months as news loses its relevance after six months. This is in complete contrast to lawyers’ practice where things drag on for long.
