Delhi Confidential: Data Power

A POWERPOINT presentation at the NDA Parliamentary Party meeting earlier this week became the main talking point among MPs of the ruling alliance. Insiders said Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya’s data-backed presentation on employment generation and transformation in sports over the past 12 years caught many MPs by surprise. Sources said the presentation “armed MPs with facts and figures to counter the Opposition’s narrative”, triggering animated discussions after the meeting ended. It also underlined the BJP’s increasing reliance on data-driven communication, even within the alliance it helms.

Mantra of Silence

DAYS AFTER he caught reporters off-guard with his “maun vrat (vow of silence)”, BJP MP Ravi Kishan handed a similar surprise to mediapersons at Parliament on Friday. When reporters approached the Gorakhpur MP for comments on the ongoing logjam in the House, he initially chose to stay silent. On being teased about whether his “maun vrat” would continue until the end of the holy month of Shravan, the MP chanted “Har har Mahadev” and walked away with a smile, leaving the reporters speechless.