Delhi Confidential: Steady Support

VICE-PRESIDENT C P Radhakrishnan struck a light-hearted note while recalling the early days of RSS publications at an event marking 80 years of the Organiser on Friday. He said that for the longest time, almost every RSS publication had just one advertiser — Mangalore Ganesh Beedi. Expressing gratitude to the beedi-manufacturing firm for backing the Sangh, Radhakrishnan quipped that the advertisement was aimed at people who were hardly its customers, as he had “rarely seen a swayamsevak smoking”. The company’s contribution was made “in the interest of the nation”.

Big Feast

AS PART of the Central Public Works Department’s 172nd annual day celebrations on July 12, the organisation is planning a “bara khana” or a lunch to felicitate workers and officials. It is learnt that the rank and file of CPWD, up to the head of the department, will dine together. The gatherings will be held at multiple venues across the country, including Sunder Nursery in Delhi. The menu includes puri, chhole, aloo sabzi, rice and halwa.

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Reshuffle buzz

AMID SPECULATION of a possible reshuffle in the Union Council of Ministers, all activities at the BJP headquarters are being closely watched by partymen across the country. Recently, when two Union ministers visited the BJP office, their names were immediately added to the list of leaders likely to be dropped from the Cabinet. Party leaders, however, insisted that the ministers — one from Jharkhand and the other from Karnataka — visited the office for a routine meeting with BJP president Nitin Nabin.