K C Venugopal
For the Congress, all political action in the run-up to Rajya Sabha elections has moved to Jaipur. The party had earlier shifted its Gujarat MLAs to Jaipur to prevent poaching attempts. Now its MLAs from all over Rajasthan are also camping in the state capital, making it easier for AICC observers. Party general secretary K C Venugopal, a candidate in Rajasthan, reached Jaipur on Thursday evening, as has AICC’s Gujarat in-charge Rajeev Satav. Senior leaders Randeep Surjewala and Chhattisgarh minister T S Singh Deo are already there. One gets to hear Lok Sabha MP and AICC secretary Manicka Tagore is also in Jaipur. Some leaders say the crisis in Rajasthan is a manufactured one and Venugopal is confident of winning, but given the defections the party has a real challenge in getting Bharatsinh Solanki, its second candidate in Gujarat, elected.
Distance Asana
Unlike previous years, Indian embassies have the challenging task of organising the International Yoga Day in the middle of a pandemic. In that context, the missions are working with local communities in world capitals to celebrate the event “virtually”, with the theme of “yoga at home” and “yoga with family”. At a time of physical distancing and lockdowns across the world, this will be the new mantra for this year’s yoga day.
Recovery Mode
The Rajya Sabha Secretariat has decided to recover the cost of multiple train bookings done by MPs for the same day between two destinations and not cancelling tickets against which journeys were not undertaken. In a communication to MPs, Rajya Sabha secretary-general Desh Deepak Verma has stated that details of debit claims raised by the Railways Ministry have been “noted”. The RS Secretariat makes payments to the Railways Ministry even for bookings which are not used by MPs.