Delhi Confidential: Rajeev Chandrasekhar, son of IAF officer, has personal connect with INS Vikrant

Chandrasekhar, as the son of an Air Force officer, had boarded the original INS Vikrant in Kochi around 50 years ago. “It’s tremendously exciting for me because it was in Kochi around 50 years ago that I as a kid boarded the original INS Vikrant with Alize and SeaHawks,” he said. It was this emotional connection that made him accept the invitation extended to the ministers to attend the ceremony, he said.

Nepotism, News: At a time when the BJP is extending moral support to Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan in exposing the alleged nepotism in the CPM-led government in the state, the same charge against Kerala BJP president K Surendran has shaken the party leaders in the national capital. Surendran is being accused of helping his son get a posting at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology in Thiruvananthapuram. While both the CPM and the Congress have launched an attack at the BJP, Surendran says he has nothing to hide as his son got the job through written tests and practicals. But the party leaders say the controversy involving Surendran overshadowed the news of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state.

Cutout Deterrent: The corridors of Shastri Bhavan, the sprawling Union government building that houses several ministries in Central Delhi, have a new addition — life-size cutouts of langoors, an arrangement aimed at keeping monkeys at bay. Over the years, officials in the building have tried various methods to keep the primates away, but to no avail. In fact, ministries routinely float tenders to hire the services of monkey-chasers. Officials are hoping that the cutouts at places frequented by the monkeys will act as a deterrent.