Mulayam Singh Yadav (Express Illustration)
Nothing brings a spring in a politician’s step and spirit as an election victory. The SP victory over the BJP in Gorakhpur and Phulpur was one such occasion for party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav. An upbeat Mulayam directed one of the party MPs to celebrate the win by distributing sweets, and told his MPs that he would campaign for the party in all Lok Sabha seats. The SP’s jubilant Rajya Sabha MPs, except Naresh Agrawal who defected to the BJP recently, made it a point to witness the two new party MPs taking oath in the Lok Sabha from the gallery for them in the lower House.
‘Heroine’ of Democracy
Even as UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi recently held a dinner meeting of the leaders of opposition parties, senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani has told some of the disenchanted NDA-I era ministerial colleagues that he favours another person to lead the fight against the BJP. Jethmalani recently wrote to his former BJP colleagues Arun Shourie, Shatrughan Sinha and Yashwant Sinha professing his determination to make Trinamool chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee his “selected heroine as the ruler of Indian democracy”. “I have thrown my lot and talent at the total disposal of honourable Mamata Banerjee and she has responded beautifully to my gesture and spoken out bravely that she would destroy the present BJP regime,” Jethmalani wrote to them.
Change In Ceremony
The tight schedule at the inaugural function of the Indian Science Congress in Imphal left several awardees disappointed as they did not receive the award directly from the Prime Minister of India — an integral part of each year’s ceremony. Instead, Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan stepped in to hand over the awards, given by the Indian Science Congress Association. Some of the awardees asked their family members accompanying them to take pictures with the empty stage in the background.