Lucknownama

Dinner appeasement

As state BJP general secretary,party president Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj is in charge of Gorakhpur region. It is an area where BJP leaders have always found it difficult to work freely because of the clout of local MP Yogi Adityanath,who treats Gorakhpur as his exclusive domain. So Rajnath is said to be busy smoothening his son’s path. Recently,he had a dinner with Yogi in the Gorakhnath temple and discussed preparations for the Lok Sabha elections. Former state president Ramapati Ram Tripathi and MLC Vinod Pandey,both,belong to Gorakhpur and are known as Rajnath’s men. Rajnath recently elevated Vinod Pandey as national secretary and appointed him in-charge of Bihar. He also made Tripathi in charge of Jharkhand.

staking claim

The Congress seems desperate to stake a claim over centrally-funded schemes in the state. Recently,the Centre issued instructions to states not to give their own names to schemes funded by NRHM. On Saturday,Congress Legislature Party leader Pradeep Mathur ensured his presence at the foundation laying ceremony of a centralised kitchen for the mid-day meal scheme,which is to be set up by NGO Akshaya Patra in Lucknow. While Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav laid the foundation,Mathur was busy telling everyone that the kitchen would come up under the mid-day meal scheme,which is funded by the Centre. He had all the data ready about how much the central government spends on the scheme.

Filmy respite

L K Advani,who created a controversy by staying away from the BJP national executive committee meeting in Goa citing illness,is spending time writing. In the past few days,he has written a nearly 700-word blog-cum-review of movie Vishwaroop,a Hindi version of Vishwaroopam (in Tamil) produced and directed by Kamal Haasan. Advani watched the movie with his family members in Delhi on June 3,wrote the blog and released it on Sunday morning. The blog is available on the BJP website. Advani reckoned the film as one of the best,in both content and quality,he has seen in years. Advani has also written about his telephonic discussion with Haasan on the movie.

double demand

While the government is yet to finalise the tender process for the purchase of about 26 lakh tablets for class 10 pass-outs of last year,another 28.8 lakh students have become eligible this year. Asked at a press conference how the government would provide tablets to about 55 lakh students in a year,Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said,“Manufacturing companies did not know that UP would demand so many tablets and laptops. The supply is limited,but we cannot set up our own factories. We will be providing tablets and laptops as and when the companies make supplies.” That means a long wait for eligible students.

quiet content

The BSP did not react to its defeat in the Handia Assembly by-election as sharply as it did on losing the Bhatpar Rani by-election in February. After its candidate came third in Bhatpar Rani,the BSP had alleged that the voting and counting was manipulated by the officials at the behest of the SP government. However,no such reaction came this time. Sources said the party is,in fact,content with the performance of its candidate Pankaj Tripathi,who got 54,838 votes and finished second. Incidentally,while senior leaders Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Swami Prasad Maurya campaigned in Handia,for some strange reason Satish Chandra Misra,the party’s Brahmin mascot,did not in spite of the fact that the party candidate was a Brahmin.

earning a seat

Stand-up comedian Raju Srivastava may be Samajwadi Party candidate for Kanpur Lok Sabha constituency,but he is yet to earn his place among party workers. At a recent convention of backward castes in Kanpur,where Mulayam Singh Yadav’s brother and PWD Minister Shivpal Yadav was present,party members rushed to share the dais with Shivpal,leaving no seat for Srivastava. So,he humbly sat on the armrest of a sofa. But,despite the humiliation,the comedian entertained those present with jokes targeting L K Advani and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.