Samajwadi president Akhilesh Yadav
SP president Akhilesh Yadav, who often makes remarks on UP CM Yogi Adityanath over his Hindutva image and frequent visits to temples, visited a temple in Surat district of Gujarat on Monday. That, too, by making sudden change in his tour plan. Akhilesh had gone to Mumbai to address a public meeting. He was to return to Lucknow after the rally, but instead took a flight to visit Chardham temple in Surat. According to party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary, Akhilesh has interest in culture, history and social life. Akhilesh was eager to visit the place where the last rites of Karna were performed, Chaudhary said. Akhilesh also visited a banyan tree to learn about its mythological history.
Address Advice
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu may be known for his love of alliteration, but he is out to banish semantic pomposity from his office. “Hereafter, it will not be written ‘yours faithfully’, it will be written as ‘yours sincerely’ or in any other respectable manner,” Naidu said in the House. He also told the members not to use the address “Your Excellency” and make do with “Honourable” while addressing the Vice-President.
New Bonds
AAP has four MPs in Lok Sabha, but the party has so far not been part of any Opposition unity effort. The primary reason was the Congress’s reluctance to give space to the Arvind Kejriwal-led party. But things seem to be changing slowly. Although AAP was not invited to a meeting of opposition parties chaired by Sonia Gandhi last week, the party’s newly-elected Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh stood next to Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad when he addressed a press conference announcing boycott of Rajya Sabha proceedings on Tuesday. Later, Singh walked into Azad’s chamber and attended a meeting of opposition parties.
Money Matters
Justice D Y Chandrachud, who was part of the five-judge Constitution bench hearing the Aadhaar matter, Tuesday briefly referred to the challenge mounted to the Aadhaar Act on the ground that it was introduced as a money Bill and said the court will hear from senior advocate P Chidambaram on that later. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, arguing on behalf of the West Bengal government, remarked that Chidambaram was indeed the right person to speak on money Bill as “he knows more about money than me”. Justice A K Sikri’s comments then had the court in splits. “He may know more about the economics of money Bill, but money you also know.”