Delhi Confidential: Defensive On Forward

Delhi from the national capital that the IE reporters are tracking today.

MoS Bandaru Dattatreya

The HRD Ministry, which came under fire for forwarding Bandaru Dattatreya’s letter describing a few students of Hyderabad Central University as anti-national, is now treading cautiously in dealing with VIP references. On January 19, the ministry issued an internal circular advising officers to not mention the subject while forwarding any letter from an MP or MLA to the educational institution concerned. The new instructions stem from the controversy over one of HRD Ministry’s own letters sent to HCU that had the same subject as Dattatreya’s letter: “Anti-national activities in Hyderabad Central University…”. To avoid such embarrassment in future, the circular reads, “It has been observed that in some instance, (the) subject mentioned in the forwarding letter either does not properly reflect the issues raised by VIP or are open to misinterpretation.”

Guest Guessing

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar’s presence as chief guest at the Sri Lankan High Commission’s national day reception on Thursday surprised many. Normally, Cabinet ministers or Ministers of State are deputed by the government to be the chief guest at such events. Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar was the chief guest at the same event last year. When the Indian High Commission in Colombo celebrated Republic Day last month, Sri Lankan Parliament’s Speaker, Karu Jayasuriya, was the chief guest at the function.

Selection Blues

With Amit Shah preparing the list of his new team, those apprehensive about their continuance and the aspirants seem to be having sleepless nights. Two of his general secretaries are worried that a former party president who had nurtured them would try to spoil their chances as they had snapped ties with him completely after being inducted into Shah’s team. Unable to hide their eagerness, the two keep asking senior media persons whether they have heard anything about them from the former party chief. They also try to persuade journalists to talk about their performance in the party.

All For Netaji

Leaving no stone unturned to shore up the BJP’s prospects in West Bengal, the NDA government is searching for the right scheme to be named after Subhas Chandra Bose, realising the popular sentiment in the state for Netaji. The party is yet to finalise whether to rename an existing programme or launch a fresh one named after the freedom fighter.

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