Mulayam Singh Yadav
AFTER SAMAJWADI Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s recent remark on the alleged disaffection for him within the party organisation, the party on Thursday released a statement signed by him. The statement was a condolence message from the party’s legislature group on former MP Darshan Singh Yadav’s death. Mulayam’s designation was given as Lok Sabha member and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. In a separate press release issued by the party on the condolence meeting held on Thursday, Mulayam’s designation was given as former defence minister. Both the statements did not mention Mulayam’s position as “supreme patron” in the party, as announced at the party’s special convention last year, where Akhilesh replaced his father as the party’s national president.
Hidden Meaning
WHAT’S IN a name? A lot apparently, which is why the name Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave for the ambitious Rs 5 lakh health protection scheme in his Independence Day speech was changed. Modi called it the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan. On Monday, Health Minister J P Nadda called it the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. The reason, apparently, was the acronym. PMJAA in an election year was not thought prudent — “jaa” means “go” in several Indian languages. Hence it will be called PMJAY.
Turf War
THE BATTLE between the CBI’s No. 1 and No. 2 took an interesting turn on Thursday, thanks to a court order. While CBI Director Alok Verma has taken away several key cases which were under Special Director Rakesh Asthana’s supervision, the Patna High Court has reposed faith in the latter’s abilities. It has appointed Asthana as supervisor of the Muzaffarpur shelter home case, and given him the freedom to constitute his own probe team.