Basavaraj Bommai Wait continues: When Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai left for Delhi on a three-day visit, it sent hopes soaring among a number of leaders in the state BJP unit, who are aspiring to find a place in his Cabinet. But it appears that Bommai, who met central ministers and took up with them unfinished state projects, could not discuss political issues with the party leadership, which has been busy with the assembly elections in five states. Sources said Union Home Minister Amit Shah could spend barely a few minutes with the Chief Minister while BJP president J P Nadda could only speak to him on telephone as he was in Goa busy in election campaigning. The national leadership has given a clear message to the state leaders that any discussion on Cabinet expansion could take place only after March first week.
Unity signal: Over the years, Congress’s Tripura unit had become synonymous with factionalism. So on Tuesday, when two senior BJP leaders – Sudip Roy Barman and Ashish Saha – rejoined Congress in the presence of the Gandhi siblings, the grand old party ensured that party state unit chief Birajit Sinha was also in attendance. The party felt that his absence would have sent out a message that the Congress remains a divided house in Tripura. It is learnt that during the joining, two other dissident BJP MLAs of the state also met Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, who assured that the “party will not be found wanting in extending resources to the state unit like in the past”.
Changing roles: Indian Ambassador in Romania Rahul Shrivastava held an online meeting with Jagadish ‘Jaggi’ Vasudev, popularly known as Sadhguru, earlier this month. Shrivastava’s meeting was interestingly facilitated by an advisor to former External Affairs Minister S M Krishna. The former aide, Raghvendra Shastry, who is now associated with Isha Foundation, is trying to set up a visit by Sadhguru to Romania in spring this yeart.
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