Lots in a name
Last week, the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation changed the name of a metro station thrice in a single day. In a series of tweets, the name of the HUDA City Centre metro station — the terminal of the yellow line in Haryana’s Gurugram — was first changed to Gurugram City Centre, followed by Millennium City Centre, and finally Millennium City Centre Gurugram. The acronym, HUDA, was for the Haryana Urban Development Authority, whose name was changed in 2017 to Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran by the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state. The cabinet minister, Anil Vij, had then said that the acronym rhymed with the name of the former Congress chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The latest name change comes a year ahead of Lok Sabha and assembly polls in the state.
Plan foiled
The disappointment of the Janata Dal (Secular) leader, HD Kumaraswamy, at not being able to play king-maker is perfectly understandable. While it was clear that the Congress had the edge, few would have dared to give the party the 135 seats that it got in the assembly polls. The Congress’s decisive victory effectively busted Kumaraswamy’s dreams. But he has now launched a tirade against the PC Siddaramaiah government by going directly for the chief minister’s son and former MLA, Yathindra. Kumaraswamy even brandished a pendrive before the media, claiming that it contained damning evidence about corruption in the top office in Vidhana Soudha. Already flirting with the BJP with an eye on a few seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the best the JD(S) leader can do is prove his anti-Congress credentials.
Still searching
The BJP in Karnataka couldn’t have had it worse than seeking the national leadership’s help in selecting a leader of the Opposition. Nearly two months after losing the state polls, the BJP still hasn’t been able to pick its legislative party leader. While the names of the former CM, Basavaraj Bommai, and those of R Ashoka and Basanagouda Patil Yatnal are doing the rounds for the post, the party has been struggling with infighting. The BJP national leadership has sent an observer to iron out the differences and name a leader of the Opposition to end the embarrassment.
Opposing camps
The ruling allies in Bihar —Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal — do not miss any chance to have a go at each other these days. This time, they took different sides in an ongoing battle between the education minister, Chandrashekhar, and the education department’s additional chief secretary, KK Pathak, an honest and upright civil servant. What triggered the feud that erupted recently is unclear, but sources say that it was the outcome of Pathak cracking the whip to bring some discipline and work culture in the education department, schools and colleges.
The angry minister started the war with missives and the tiff soon tumbled out into the public. The RJD leaders took Chandrashekhar’s side as he is one of them, while JD(U) leaders filed behind Pathak because IAS postings are made with Nitish’s nod. The allegations of the CM controlling all the important departments through handpicked officers have resurfaced. As the situation escalated, Lalu and then Nitish intervened to control it.
Friends first
With the Opposition unity meet in Patna officially over, it was time for the leaders to return to their states. The cavalcade of the Jharkhand CM, Hemant Soren, left his Bihar counterpart’s official residence at the same time as that of the other Opposition leaders, but instead of going to the airport, it took another turn and left everyone guessing.
It turned out that he had actually taken a detour to the residence of the Bihar agriculture minister and RJD leader, Kumar Sarvjeet. Later, it came to be known that the two leaders had studied together in schools and colleges and shared a strong bond of friendship. Sarvjeet had asked Soren to come home after the meeting, which he did. Several other old friends were also there and they all spent over an hour chatting and relishing the snacks. “It was late and he had to return to Ranchi, yet he came for the sake of friendship. After all, it is above politics,” Sarvjeet later said.
Footnote
When it comes to the United States of America and China, the Narendra Modi government’s muscular diplomacy shows itself up as nothing but bluster. Not once has the Chinese ambassador been summoned in recent years despite provocations galore; not even after Galwan. It is the same with the US. This was starkly evident this week. India summoned the Canadian high commissioner after posters threatening Indian diplomats based in Canada surfaced, but no such summoning happened in the case of the US ambassador even after a video emerged of the Indian consulate in San Francisco being set afire by Khalistani supporters.
