Delhi Confidential: Diminishing Return

Buoyed by his second successive victory from Telangana’s Secunderabad constituency, Union Tourism and Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy on Thursday organised a meet and greet at his official residence, which was thronged by several MPs, MLAs and party workers from the state. Under Reddy’s leadership as Telangana BJP president, the party won the highest number of MPs in the state. However, with Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP from the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh becoming a significant part of the coalition government and bargaining for key Cabinet berths, there was a sobering realisation among the ministry hopefuls from Telangana of their chances diminishing.

Great Expectations

The JD(U) is yet to make an official statement on how many Cabinet berths it has demanded from the BJP in lieu of support to the Narendra Modi government, but the media frenzy around its demands appears to have got many JD(U) leaders excited. One such leader from the party’s J&K unit, who was visiting Nitish Kumar’s residence in Delhi to greet him, was mobbed by mediapersons. Pressed to reveal the number of ministries the JD(U) was pushing for, the flustered leader blurted out that if his party has 12 MPs, it should get 12 ministries.

Fair Assessment

THE ARMY has sent an advisory to senior officers initiating and reviewing the annual confidential reports (ACR) of officers, asking them to be more balanced and objective while assessing the performances of the officers in their command. Each ACR is reviewed by two officers above an initiating officer. The move is aimed at curbing any possibility of inflating the ACR parameters on grounds of favouritism, and pitching officers for their selection boards purely based on their merit and capability.