Delhi Confidential: Bat To Beat TB

In a bid to spread awareness about India’s TB eradication programme, which the government has pledged to achieve by 2025, a team of MPs led by BJP’s Anurag Thakur is set to play a friendly cricket match against actor Suniel Shetty-led Bollywood team in Mumbai Saturday. Thakur’s team is a mix of MPs across parties, including TDP’s Ram Mohan Naidu, BJP’s Kamlesh Paswan and Manoj Tiwari, Congress’s Deepender Hooda and Rahul Kaswan, Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde, AAP’s Gurmeet Singh Hayer and SP’s Devesh Shakya. Among those cheering the players in the T20 match will be Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and actor Salman Khan.

Lunch Session

It’s not a usual sight even when Parliament is in session. On Friday, three senior ministers — Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister J P Nadda and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal — were seen having lunch with other members in the Rajya Sabha canteen for MPs. They were joined by Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu and BJP MP Surendra Singh Nagar. Sources said the senior leaders were having a light conversation over dosas and papri chaat they had ordered. Many MPs, including some from the Opposition parties, went and greeted the leaders who rarely visit the canteen. There was apparently a “dispute” over who would pick up the tab and finally Goyal won it, said sources.

Fastest Answer First

The Question Hour in Lok Sabha Friday saw both the senior and junior ministers of health ready to take a question from Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. As soon as Tharoor raised a question about spurious drugs, Health Minister J P Nadda and MoS for Health Anupriya Patel got up to reply. It seemed Patel didn’t see her senior colleague was also standing and began to speak, at which point Nadda took his seat again and let her continue with the government’s response. It’s another matter that Tharoor later said on X that he was not satisfied with the reply.