Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni.
BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni seems to have used an invitation for tea from Congress leader Priyanka Vadra Gandhi to be ‘vocal about local’. In response to Priyanka’s letter, Baluni, allotted her former residence at 35-Lodhi Estate, thanked her but said he is not going out due to the Covid pandemic and his illness — Baluni has had a successful cancer treatment. But he promised Priyanka that he would invite her to enjoy Uttarakhand’s traditional food at his new residence.
Farewell Time
After serving as Secretary of the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation for more than four years, senior IAS officer Parameswaran Iyer will demit office next month. The government has accepted his resignation with effect from August 21. Iyer, a 1981-batch Uttar Pradesh cadre officer, had taken voluntary retirement in 2009 and joined the World Bank. But he joined the government again in early 2016 and steered the Centre’s ambitious Swachh Bharat Mission.
No Positive, This
After BJP leaders in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, an NDA ally in Rajasthan has now tested positive for Covid-19. Lok Sabha MP from Nagaur, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party convenor Hanuman Beniwal, has announced that he had gone for a test after symptoms showed up, and the results came positive. Beniwal, one of the most outspoken NDA leaders, requested all those who came in contact with him to get tested. Incidentally, Beniwal had earlier triggered an uproar that had led to adjournment in Lok Sabha during the Budget Session. He had said there should be a probe on whether coronavirus was being spread from the residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, as a large number of people found infected were from Italy.