Pre-Truth — snappy, witty and significant snippets from the world of politics and government.

‘Conflict of interest’ allegation against Sibal

Senior advocate and Congressman Kapil Sibal leading the impeachment motion against CJI Dipak Misra is a conflict of interest since they are related to each other! Who would have thought this could be true? But when BJD MP and senior advocate Pinaki Misra’s relationship with CJI Misra was called into question last week by a PIL petitioner, this interesting defence was offered. The PIL had stated that Pinaki Misra, one of the richest parliamentarians, must not be allowed to appear in courts until he is an MP.  Pinaki Misra is CJI Misra’s cousin. But incidentally, Pinaki Misra is related to Kapil Sibal as well. Sibal’s younger son Akhil Sibal is married to Shivani Gokhale who happens to be Pinaki Misra’s niece.

DD News declared Vajpayee dead, then called it a mistake

As former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was battling for life in AIIMS, one goof-up from DD News made media outlets announce that Vajpayee was no more much before the official announcement. It started with DD News flashing in the afternoon that Vajpayee was no more. Others took the announcement by the national broadcaster as confirmed news and started running it. Later DD News withdrew it saying it was a mistake. Vajpayee passed away hours later, at 5.05 in the evening.

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CPI(M)’s ‘double standards’ in condoling deaths

The CPI(M) had shown much reluctance and was laggard in publicly condoling the death of veteran communist leader and former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee Monday. It had issued an official statement more than four hours after his passing away was announced a little past 8 am. The CPI(M) politburo statement came at 12.30 pm, and the party tweeted condolences from its official handle only around 1.30 pm. Even general secretary Sitaram Yechury put out a tweet at 1 pm. The CPI(M) had expelled Chatterjee on disciplinary grounds after he refused to tow the party line during the 2008 trust vote.

In sharp contrast, the party was quick to condole the death of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Thursday, with the politburo issuing a condolence message in just around 15 minutes of the official announcement that came about 5.30 pm. Yechury too tweeted by 6 pm. It has struck many in the political circles that the CPI(M) deliberately distanced itself from Chatterjee even though he was a party stalwart, while taking little time to make a statement on Vajpayee.

The inside story of RS deputy chairman’s election

BJD’s Prasanna Acharya, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Naresh Gujral, JD(U)’s Harivansh and K. Keshava Rao of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) were shortlisted as probable NDA candidates in the recent election for the post of deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. The BJD and the TRS, however, refused to contest when approached by the BJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi then decided to field Harivansh as the NDA candidate who finally won the election.

Lack of communication between Congress communication teams

The Congress party’s communications teams are working in silos, with social media department headed by Divya Spandana constantly striving to outdo the media department headed by Randeep Surjewala. The media department recently organised two separate meetings of women and men journalists with Congress president Rahul Gandhi.  Divya had Thursday organised a meeting of journalists from online publications with Gandhi but didn’t keep the media department in the loop. As journalists kept ringing Surjewala to enquire about the meeting, he maintained he had no clue about this meeting. Many senior leaders in the party are also peeved at Divya’s recent decisions to appoint people in social media department in different states without consulting anyone.

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Delhi Police’s last-minute traffic plan for Vajpayee’s funeral

Delhi Police officers preparing the traffic advisory for former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s last rites had a tough time putting together a comprehensive plan until late Thursday night. As the advisory drafts kept changing leading to massive confusion, many officers were on teleconferencing until a final draft was agreed upon. It was finally decided that the traffic police will play it by the ear.

Initially, it was decided that many arterial roads will remain shut in the second half of the day when the procession begins from BJP office on DDU Marg, but after a series of calls from the BJP headquarters, a statement was issued by traffic police saying that the roads will be shut from 8 am onwards for general public because of VVIP movement on that route. Later, the officers confirmed that the roads would be practically shut down only two hours before the procession begins but the advisory mentioned 8 am to discourage people from taking the mentioned routes.

(Contributors: Apurva Vishwanath, Kumar Anshuman, Ruhi Tewari, DK Singh, and Ananya Bhardwaj)