Even Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has first-hand experience of traffic logjam on the Manesar route. At The Energy and Research Institute’s (TERI) 24th Darbari Seth Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, Gadkari said he was once stuck for three hours on his way to Manesar to attend a wedding. Gadkari jokingly said that he swore that day not to take the route again. He also recounted that when he was new to Delhi, he would often get stuck in traffic at Dhaula Kuan near the airport, and after becoming a minister, he had to put in a lot of effort to decongest traffic at the spot. In Hindi Deputy head of Russia’s Mission in India, Roman Babushkin, on Wednesday began his 90-minute-long media interaction in New Delhi with “shuruaat karenge”, quickly adding “Shree Ganesh karenge”. On being asked about Russia’s support to India’s air defence system, he said “you mean Sudarshan Chakra” as declared by PM Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech. “Next time, ask in Hindi, I can answer better,” he told the mediapersons. Two Sides Amid the uproar over the Constitution amendment Bills tabled in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the internal dynamics of the TMC were also on display. The party was the first to storm the well of the House when Home Minister Amit Shah introduced the Bill. TMC member Kalyan Banerjee rallied the party’s MPs on to the Opposition side of the well. TMC MP Mahua Moitra and a few party MPs entered the well on the Treasury side. A few minutes later, Banerjee, too, came to the Treasury side and it was at this moment that papers were thrown at Shah by some women MPs, leading to a near scuffle between TMC and BJP MPs. Not long ago, a war of words between Moitra and Banerjee had ended up with TMC chief Mamata Banerjee replacing the party’s leader in the House and also its chief whip.
